Through The Ages
by psychohart
Summary: COMPLETE They have been enemies ever since they first met, and as opposite as black and white. He hates her because she is a Mudblood, she hates him because he makes her life miserable. But can a change of scenery also change their minds?
1. Chapter One

Through the Ages

Summary: They have been enemies ever since they first met, and as opposite as black and white. He hates her because she is a Mudblood, she hates him because he makes her life miserable. But can a change of scenery also change their minds?

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Any characters you recognise are not mine...but I own the rest of the characters.

Chapter 1

It was a lovely crisp morning that greeted Hermione Granger, Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. She smiled, looking forward to her first day of classes. Even though this year was going to be the most challenging year of all, Hermione relished the challenge and was determined to keep her position as top of the grade.

She lazily got out of her four poster bed in the Head Girl's room and got dressed. Pulling on her robes she walked over to the bathroom that she shared with Harry Potter, the Head Boy and her best friend.

"Morning Harry." She said brightly, seeing him already there brushing his teeth.

He lifted the hand that wasn't holding his brush in a wave. Then he rinsed and spat.

"Good morning Hermione!" He replied with a smile, "You're up early."

"Yeah, I couldn't wait for classes to start so I decided to get up early and read some more of the textbooks." She answered. Harry looked like he couldn't decide if she was joking or not.

"Err..."

"Don't worry Harry! I was just kidding." She assured him with a grin, "What're you doing up early?"

"Oh, I was just working out some game plans for Quidditch. I wanted to get them done early so that the team could get into practicing straight away." He replied. Harry was the Quidditch Captain of Gryffindor.

"Good on you, Harry." Hermione said amusedly, "We better kick Slytherin's ass again this year."

"Oh don't you worry 'Mione, we definitely will, even if I die trying."

"I'll hold you to that. Now move over, I need to wash my face." said Hermione, shooing Harry out of the bathroom.

"Alright then, I'll wait for you in our common room."

Hermione closed the door and looked in the mirror. Staring back at her was a confident young woman with a sprinkle of freckles across her nose, chocolate coloured eyes with flecks of gold, perfectly straight and normal sized teeth and creamy brown hair that cascaded down her back in soft curls rather than in a bush.

She smiled. Hermione knew that she wasn't that pretty, but at least she wasn't hideous. She didn't mind how she looked, because what she 'lacked' in the looks department she made up with brains and confidence, and that gave her an attractive air of self-assurance that not many girls at Hogwarts had.

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Hermione went down to the Head common room to meet Harry. Then they set off down to the Great Hall to have breakfast with Ron and the rest of Gryffindor.

"Oi you two, over here!" boomed Ron's voice across the din of the students having breakfast. Harry and Hermione joined him at the Gryffindor table and tucked into a delicious breakfast of pancakes with maple syrup and pumpkin juice.

"So what do we have today?" asked Ron, shovelling pancakes into his mouth at an alarming rate.

"Well if you would stop pigging out on pancakes like there's no tomorrow, you could take a look at the timetable yourself." Hermione scolded.

"Alright, alright mother. Why are you in a foul mood today eh?" Ron answered with a raised eyebrow.

"I wasn't until I found out that we have Potions with Slytherin _again_!"

"WHAT?!" Both Harry and Ron exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's right. Another year with Malfoy and his cronies." Hermione sighed.

"I knew we shouldn't have listened to her. N.E.W.T. level Potions with Snape _and _Malfoy. How much worse can it get?" Ron muttered to Harry, who nodded solemnly.

"Look, you cant get into Auror training without a pass in Potions. Its just bad luck that we're with the Slytherins." Hermione reasoned.

"Oh so Potty and the Weasel want to be Aurors." sneered a voice from behind them. It was Malfoy.

"Yes, do you have a problem with that, Malfoy?" said Hermione with an edge to her voice.

"As a matter of fact, I don't. Because if Potter and Weasley are the standard of the next generation of Aurors...I can tell Father and all his friends not to worry." He smirked.

"Don't you have anything better to do, Malfoy?" Harry ground out between clenched teeth.

"Good point, Potter. I do, actually. So be honoured that I wasted a minute of my precious time on you." He answered silkily. Both Ron and Harry looked ready to kill him, so Hermione spoke up.

"Just go, Malfoy. Nobody wants you here."

"Harsh, Mudblood. See you all in Potions." And with a last smirk he was gone.

"Well I guess nothing's changed this year." Hermione said bitterly.

---

Draco Malfoy was determined to do well this year - he had been studying all holidays. Of course it was highly uncharacteristic for Draco to have spent his holidays studying, but he had a good reason - he was going to beat the Mudblood this year. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she finally slipped to second place in the grade.

"Look, Harry. It won't be so bad this year...maybe Snape has mellowed. Anyway, there's less people in the class so he won't be as crabby."

Draco turned around in his seat to glare at the people coming into the dungeon. It was the Dream Team of course. His best friend Blaise Zabini, who was sitting next to him rolled his eyes. Before Draco could taunt them again, Professor Snape swept into the dungeon, a sour expression on his sallow face.

"Ugh! The incompetent bunch of idiots as usual." He muttered to himself, though the whole class could hear. He sat down and regarded them with narrowed eyes.

"Listen carefully to me. I will not tolerate _any _fooling around in my class this year. There will be no messing up of potions - you will only get one chance to brew each potion, otherwise you will get zero for it. You will put one hundred and ten percent of effort into every potion or else you will fail NEWT Potions. Is that clear?"

The silenced class nodded.

"The first potion that we will be brewing is relatively simple for N.E.W.T Potions. It is called the Pres Mobilius Potion. Can anyone tell me more about it?" asked Snape. Immediately Hermione's arm shot up into the air. He ignored it.

"Anybody else?"

"Sir, the Pres Mobilius Potion is a potion that transports the drinker to another country close by." answered Draco lazily, smirking at Hermione who put her hand down, fuming.

"Excellent, Draco. Ten points to Slytherin. Now pair up and brew the potion, the instructions are on the blackboard."

Harry was forced to pair up with Pansy Parkinson, much to his disgust while Hermione paired up with Ron. They were almost finished with brewing the potion when disaster struck.

"Alright Ron, you add the murkwood at the end, after I add the belladonna essence okay?" said Hermione, consulting the board. Ron gave her a thumbs up.

"Well if it isn't the Mudblood and Weasley." sneered Malfoy, coming over to annoy them with Blaise Zabini.

"Didn't we tell you to go away already, ferret face?" Ron spat.

"No I don't recall _you _telling me to go away, Weasley. However I do remember Granger telling me." Malfoy said snidely. Then he continued,

"You think you're so high and mighty, Granger. But let me tell you one thing - you're going down this year. You wont know what hit you by the time I'm through with you." he sneered.

"Oi, what's that supposed to mean Malfoy?!" exclaimed Ron, accidentally dropping the murkwood into the potion at the same time.

Suddenly there was a massive explosion and everyone was thrown back by the sheer force of the explosion. When the smoke cleared, the rest of the class was stunned to find that Ron, Hermione, Draco and Blaise had vanished.

A/N: So...what do you think of my new story guys? REVIEW! Thanks.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Hermione had blacked out. But she was slowly coming around, she groggily opened her eyes. Almost immediately she had to close them again, but in the brief glimpse she got of her surroundings, she figured that she was not in the school Infirmary. Strange, all she could remember was Malfoy's taunting and then an explosion.

She opened her eyes again, and sat up with a shock. She was in a cottage bedroom that was definitely not in Hogwarts. It was raining outside and the rain was blurring the window. It was a prettily decorated room, with a vase of fresh flowers sitting on the armoire across from the bed.

Where the hell was she? And where was Ron?

"Oh mademoiselle! You are finally awake!" shrieked a female voice. A maid bustled into the room and rushed to Hermione's side.

"Uh...yeah...where am I?" said a bewildered Hermione. 'Did she just call me mademoiselle?!'

"At home of course! Ah I shall call Madame and inform her of your waking. Do you need anything? Water?" asked the maid kindly.

"No I'm fine...but where am I? Am I in France?!"

"Why yes of course mademoiselle. France is your home, remember? Oh you must have hit your head harder than we thought, cherie." answered the maid sympathetically.

"What?!"

"I'll be back in a moment." said the maid.

"What's your name?" asked Hermione.

"Eloise" And with that she left, leaving Hermione to process what she had just heard.

--

"Goddamnit who are you?!" yelled Draco Malfoy.

He had just woken up from what seemed like a very long sleep and found himself in a nice bed with an attractive woman.

"Julien...don't you remember last night?"

"Uh...no frankly I don't. But I wouldn't mind having my memory refreshed," Draco answered with a sly grin. Then his brain caught up with what the woman had said, "And who the hell is Julien?"

The woman giggled and put her head on his bare chest. 'My god, are we both naked?!' thought Draco, ducking under the covers to check. 'Wow...'

"You _are_ Julien, Monsieur Malfoy!"

"WHAT?!"

---

Professor Snape had his head in his hands. He was in Dumbledore's office and they were discussing the accident in the dungeons.

"I don't know where they've gone...someone must've dropped the murkwood in too early. It could have disastrous effects on the potion, Headmaster. Murkwood has other properties apart from transportation - it is also used in time travel potions." said Snape worriedly.

"Don't worry, Severus. We'll get them home eventually." Dumbledore reassured the potions master.

"But they could be anywhere in Ireland or France! They might not even be in this century...for all we know they could be stuck in medieval France or something." Snape protested.

At that exact moment two students appeared in the doorway of the office.

"Ah what did I tell you Severus? Two of them are back already! Welcome back Mr. Weasley and Mr. Zabini." said Dumbledore cordially.

"Professor Snape! The potion did something strange...we didn't just get taken to Ireland, we were taken back in time as well!" exclaimed Blaise.

"What era were you taken back till?" asked Snape uneasily.

"Oh, only back to the 18th Century." answered Blaise.

"How did you get back here so fast then, Zabini?" asked Snape.

"I don't know...we stumbled across a leprechaun in Ireland and we made a deal with it. Then somehow they got us back here." he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Where's Hermione and Malfoy?" asked Ron anxiously.

"Ah...we're not too sure about their whereabouts Mr. Weasley. Did you not see them in Ireland?" replied Dumbledore. Ron shook his head.

"Well then I suppose that they're in France...the potion can only take you so far from England so it has to be either Ireland or France." said Snape.

"Wonderful. Severus, arrange for a search party to be sent to France immediately."

--

Hermione was still a little bit bewildered when the maid came back with her 'mother'. All she had worked out was that she was in France as a result of the potion exploding. Ron must've dropped the murkwood in before the belladonna essence.

"Darling, you're awake!" gushed the woman, leaning over to peck her on the cheek.

"She's seems to have lost her memory, Madame." whispered Eloise.

"Nonsense, Eloise! Now Marie darling, you seem perfectly fine to me." said the woman.

'Marie? Who's Marie?' wondered Hermione, still gazing at the woman.

"Marie?" The woman seemed to be expecting an answer from her.

"What? I'm Marie?!" exclaimed Hermione incredulously.

"Oh dear you're right, Eloise. Send for the doctor immediately." whispered the woman gravely.

"But I'm _fine_!" protested Marie-Hermione.

"No, you're not cherie. But you will be when Doctor Chavroir comes." cooed the woman reassuringly.

"Look, I'm perfectly fine! I just can't remember some things...you can just refresh my memory...mother." Marie-Hermione said tentatively. Her mother sighed and gave her a patronizing look.

"Well, if you say so, darling. Your name is Marie-Hermione Granger, you were born here in Paris but we are an English family. You are presently sixteen years old, and are betrothed to a very handsome and eligible young man by the name of Lord Xavier Malfoy."

"I'm betrothed?! But I'm only sixteen! What age is this?!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Why of course you are betrothed, my dear. All your friends are also engaged or about to be. Do not be afraid, by marrying Lord Xavier, your future is in safe hands. He is one of the most eligible young men in Paris - he is heir to the Malfoy fortune and -"

"Wait, wait a minute. Did you say Malfoy?" Hermione stuttered.

"Yes I did. Is there a problem, Marie?" asked her mother. Hermione was speechless - 'She can't be talking about Draco Malfoy can she? He _was_ standing near them when the potion exploded...so maybe...oh my god I'm betrothed to Draco Malfoy!'

"Uh..." Hermione wanted to pass out again.

"Darling, you should be flattered that Lord Xavier chose you to be his bride. He seems genuinely interested in you. Why, he brought you that vase of flowers over there," she said, pointing to the flowers Hermione had seen before. She forced a smile.

"He is not only kind, but of the high society as well, the type of man that every young girl dreams of marrying. We are but a small unremarkable middle class family. This is our chance to shine." Her mother said with a smile.

Hermione tried to return the smile, but exhausted by the effort and the bombshell her mother had just dropped on her, she fell back limply onto her bed and was unconscious once more.

--

Draco had shooed the unknown woman out of his room and was looking through his wardrobe in disgust.

'What type of man has a closet full of antique suits? What age is this?!' he thought.

"Bonjour, Julien." boomed a deep voice. Julien Draco turned around and saw -

"Blaise?!"

"Ah, non je suis Xavier - ton frere! Qui est Blaise?" (Oh, no I'm Xavier - your brother! Who's Blaise?) answered the Blaise lookalike with a strange look on his face.

'Shit, why are we speaking French?!' thought Draco uneasily. Then he gratefully thanked his mother for making him learn French, it was finally going to come in handy.

"Eh...Blaise est mon ami. Ne t'en fais pas...alors, comment cava Xavier?" (Eh...Blaise is my friend. Don't worry...So how are you Xavier?) said Draco in a would-be casual tone.

"Tu es tres bizarre aujourd'hui, Julien. Peut-etre tu dois voir un medicin." (You're very strange today, Julien. Perhaps you should see a doctor.) answered Xavier with a worried expression.

"Oh, non, non. Je suis formidable! Mais Xavier, est-ce que tu parle anglais?" (Oh no, no I'm great! But Xavier, can you speak English?) asked Draco hopefully.

"Yes...of course I can speak English! All of us can. What is wrong with you, silly child?" snapped Xavier.

Draco was extremely lost about what was going on. He had no idea where he was (France, most likely), who he was or why the hell his closet was full of antique style clothes. He suspected that all this had to do with the explosion in the Potions dungeon.

"I knew that. I was just testing you...uh could you please tell me the date?" asked Draco nervously, hoping Xavier wouldn't notice his discomfort. He did, and shot him another strange look.

"It's the second of September, seventeen eighty-eight. Dear lord, have you lost your mind, Julien?"

"Uh...hahaha...no of course not. I'm just feeling a bit hung over from last night, you know." answered Draco feebly, attempting to give him a roguish smile. Inwardly he was shocked. '1788?! The potion was only support to take us to a country near England...not send us back in time! At least that explains the weird clothes...'

"I worry about you sometimes, little brother." Xavier suddenly said, "There have been cases of madness in our family, and at times you seem to be manifesting the symptoms of madness. Are you sure that you're quite alright?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I need to change. I'll see you around, Xavier." answered Draco quickly, shutting the door in his face.

Then he slumped to the floor, completely overwhelmed by this turn of events. He was stuck in 18th century France with no one and nothing to help him.

A/N: Second chapter done, hoped you all liked it...I'm not uploading anymore until I get more reviews, guys!

Thanks to my first reviewers: Madnutterfan, written, KuramaDramaLuv, Sam, Meg (btw, is this the Meg from my other story?), The Singing Hippo. You guys rock!


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Snape was back in Dumbledore's office, this time with an even more forlorn expression on his face.

"It's a nightmare come true, Albus. We can't find them in present day France...which can only mean that they have also been transported back in time." Snape said with a pained expression.

"We will find them, Severus. Are there any potions that you can make to bring them back?" asked Dumbledore.

"Well there is a counter potion that I could make. But I have to administer it to them myself...and since we don't know where exactly in time they are, making the potion seems useless."

"Go ahead with the potion anyway, I'll get Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Blaise Zabini to work out where Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger are in history." said Dumbledore reassuringly.

"How, Headmaster? If we can't do it, how will a bunch of seventh year idiots do it?"

"We'll go back to the basics. They can check the French family trees and the Malfoy and Granger family trees for their names. I'm sure their names wont have changed too much." replied Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye.

"How do you know, Albus?" asked Snape in bewilderment. 

"Intuition, my friend." Snape gave Dumbledore a strange look before leaving the office.

"Well according to my intuition, Granger and Malfoy are going to need a lot more than just Irish luck to get back here."

--

Hermione came around a second time and was disappointed to find that she was still in the cottage and her 'mother' was still sitting next to her. She was hoping that it had all been bad dream...

'Noooo I'm still betrothed to Malfoy!' she thought in despair. And still lost in France, without anyone or anything to help her. How was she going to get back to Hogwarts? And where was Ron?

"Marie, are you feeling better now?" asked her mother kindly, interrupting her thoughts. Hermione nodded and took a sip from the glass of water on the table beside her.

"Excellent, then we can start making preparations for your trip to the Malfoy chateau." Hermione froze and choked on her water.

"What?!"

"Lord Xavier has invited you to spend a week at his chateau, just outside of Paris. He wishes to know you better and to see for himself that you've recovered. He was so worried when you got hurt." answered her mother.

"Well as touched as I am with his concern, I'm not going." said Hermione stubbornly.

"Nonsense, Marie. You are going for the sake of your future, if you don't go, the betrothal will be cancelled." her mother said bluntly.

"Then let it be cancelled! I'm not going to marry that piece of scum!" she protested, shuddering at the thought of spending the rest of her life with Malfoy.

"You are going to marry him regardless of what you think of him. And for the record, Lord Xavier is _not _a piece of scum! He is a charming, intelligent young man that -" Hermione cut her off.

"Every girl wants to marry? Well let him marry those other girls then! He can't be the only eligible young man in Paris for god's sake! Why do I have to marry him?!"

"That's it young lady! I've had it with your insolence! You're going to the chateau tonight! Eloise, send a message to Lord Xavier informing him that Marie is arriving a day early." her mother exclaimed furiously. Eloise nodded submissively and bustled out of the room.

Hermione was silent and sulky. This was a nightmare! Not only was she stuck in France, she was engaged to Malfoy as well. Could it get any worse?! Her mother glared at her and began taking clothes out of her armoire to put in her suitcase. Hermione suddenly noticed the type of clothes that her mother was wearing, and the clothes that she was putting into the suitcase. Her eyes widened as a horrible thought came into her head.

"Mother, what is the date?" she asked uneasily. Her mother turned around and mumbled -

"Second of September, seventeen eighty-eight."

The potion had somehow taken her back to a time when petticoats and corsets were the height of fashion.

'I was wrong, it just got worse.'

--

Draco was sitting stiffly at the dining table in the Great Hall of the Malfoy chateau. He had just met his parents, Lord Marcel and Lady Madeline and they too noticed something different about him. Xavier kept shooting Draco furtive glances when he thought that he wasn't looking.

Draco felt like kicking him really hard in the shin just to teach him a lesson, but knew that he had to restrain himself if he wanted to keep up appearances. He had seen a huge library when he had come down for breakfast so he was going there afterwards to do some research about the Pres Mobilius potion. He had to get out of here soon.

"Julien, your brother tells us that you've taken a sudden interest in speaking English. What is the reason for this? You have never been particularly fond of the language." his father said with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, father I'm afraid that's true. I would prefer to keep my reason private." replied Draco curtly.

"Just as I feared, Marcel." whispered Lady Madeline, "He's courting an English girl."

"I most certainly am not!" Draco exclaimed indignantly.

"Then what's your reason?!" his father bellowed back at him. Draco was at a loss for words for a moment, and in that time his mother began to sob.

"First Xavier, now Julien too. Those English girls never know when to give up when it comes to our sons! Our pure lineage will be tainted by those...wenches!" she wept. Her husband tried to console her, and he glared at Draco.

"Hang on, Xavier is courting an English girl?" said Draco, glancing at his brother interestedly.

"Yes I am, brother. We are betrothed." Xavier said smugly, as though he had beaten Draco to the prize. Again Draco was having a hard time restraining himself from punching that smartass.

"Oh, what's her name?"

"Marie." He replied simply.

"I see. Well as wonderful as it is to sit and chat with you all, I've got some work to do. I'll see you all at lunch. Have a good morning." said Draco politely, excusing himself from the table.

Once he left the Hall, he ran up the flight of stairs straight to the library. It was dark extremely cave-like, with books lining all four walls and candles burning in a candelabra set on the stately table in the middle of the room. A fire was also burning in the fireplace, casting eerie shadows across room, even though it was still morning.

"What Granger would do to have a library like this." Draco smirked to himself, climbing up a ladder to reach a book. It was naturally a potion book, and after picking out another four potion texts, he sat down at the armchair in front of the fireplace and began to read.

--

"Ow! Does it have to be this tight?!" Hermione yelped, as Eloise tightened the corset on her.

"Why yes it does, miss. Otherwise it won't look good. You'll look like a real lady once I get this on properly with your new dress over it." Eloise assured her, grinning toothily. Hermione had forbade her to call her 'mademoiselle' again, so now she called her 'miss' instead.

"Am I supposed to be unable to breathe?" Hermione asked sarcastically as Eloise helped her into her new dress.

"That's the idea." Eloise replied with a shrug, "You look beautiful, Miss Marie."

Hermione twirled around in front of the mirror. She looked so...different. Her hair was done up so that most of her curls were piled up into an elaborate bun at the back of her head with a few stray curls at the front to frame her face. She didn't have any make up on, but her cheeks were naturally flushed because of her corset's restriction of her breathing.

The corset itself had done its job admirably. Her breasts were pushed up more than any modern push-up bra could ever hope to achieve, and of course this made Hermione wince. She looked so...girly and so unlike herself. Her waist was also cinched by the corset, making her look very thin.

Her dress however was gorgeous. It was a rose pink, with long sleeves and a low cut neckline. It wasn't so low as to make her look like a prostitute, but just enough to make her look appealing. The bottom of the dress flared out a little from the hips onward with the help of a petticoat underneath.

'You know, I think I could get used to living in this time if I get to wear dresses like this.' Thought Hermione with a smile, 'But the corset _has_ to go. How do women go through this everyday?!'

"Are you ready to leave, darling?" asked her mother, coming into the room. She had stopped being angry at Hermione once she had become more reasonable about the stay. Hermione figured that if she could talk to Malfoy (assuming that it _is _Draco Malfoy) and they could work out a way to get back to Hogwarts together.

"You look absolutely ravishing! Lord Xavier won't be able to keep his eyes off you!" she gushed, giving her daughter a hug. She didn't see Hermione's grimace at the thought of Malfoy checking her out.

"The carriage is here, Madame." said Eloise, picking up Hermione's suitcase which contained a week's worth of pretty dresses.

"Well, do enjoy yourself, my dear. Don't do anything too rash, just...let him do what he wants with you. The fate of this family lies with you, darling." Her mother said with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry, mother. Trust me, I'll behave." Hermione reassured her mother. And with that, she stepped into the horse-drawn carriage and waved goodbye to her mother and Eloise.

About an hour later, she arrived at the Malfoy Chateau. It overlooked the Seine River and was set in lush surroundings. The Chateau itself was very impressive, it was designed like a miniature castle, with towers here and there, and very elaborate stone designs on its walls.

The lights were twinkling in most of the rooms of the Chateau, giving it an ethereal glow. Hermione smiled. She was going to spend a week in a French chateau! How exciting! But then she remembered that Malfoy would get to live here for however long they were here, which completely erased her smile.

"Lucky bastard." she muttered under her breath, as the carriage door opened. The footman helped her out, and she walked up the stairs into the Grand Foyer. Like everything else, it was beautifully lit by candles in a chandelier above and completely set in marble.

Before she had any more time to admire her surroundings, a middle-aged man and woman appeared from one of the side doors. They were exquisitely dressed and looked every bit the part of a posh French couple.

"Bon soir, Marie." boomed the man's deep voice. He came over and kissed her on both cheeks. Hermione suddenly remembered that this was the traditional French kiss.

"Bon soir, Monsieur Malfoy." Hermione replied, hoping that her horrid English accent would not offend them.

"Welcome to our home, Marie." said his wife kindly. She too leaned over and gave Hermione the French kiss.

"Thank you so much for having me, Madame Malfoy." was Hermione's reply. The three of them stood in an awkward silence after the formalities were exchanged. They seemed to be waiting for something.

Soon, two young men walked regally into the foyer. The first was tall, dark-haired and very good-looking. He had piercing green eyes, and an air of self-confidence. He also looked very familiar, almost like -

"Blaise Zabini?" Hermione whispered incredulously. When he threw her a confused look she immediately shut her mouth. 'No, its just a coincidence.' she thought to herself. But the person behind him was unmistakable.

The telltale silver blond hair, steely grey eyes and that arrogant smirk still plastered on his face, Draco Malfoy walked into the foyer and stood beside the Blaise copycat. Hermione could almost hear music that accompanied her impending doom. She really was betrothed to Malfoy.

As his eyes appraised her from top to bottom, she saw his shocked expression. He was either _very _impressed by her corset and dress or he was genuinely surprised to see her there.

"Granger?!" he mouthed to her in shock. Hermione realized that the latter was true. Before she had any time to do anything else, the Blaise lookalike spoke.

"Brother, allow me to introduce you to my betrothed, Marie-Hermione Granger."

'_His_ betrothed?!' Hermione thought, completely shocked. But...

"Pleased to meet you Marie-Hermione." said Malfoy, arranging his face into a neutral expression. He leaned over and gave her a peck on each cheek. Hermione knew that this was only standard procedure in France, but she couldn't help flushing. She could still smell the lingering tang of his cologne. 'Malfoy just _kissed_ me! How disgusting and ironic.' she thought wryly.

"No, the pleasure is all mine." Hermione answered graciously, giving him a narrow look. Malfoy raised his eyebrow in response.

"And Marie, allow me to introduce you to my charming younger brother, Julien Draco Malfoy." said Xavier, giving her a warm smile.

Hermione smiled warmly back - she wasn't going to marry Malfoy! Well, technically she was still going to marry _a_ Malfoy, but at least it wasn't the git that had teased her mercilessly for seven years. And this Xavier really wasn't bad looking and he seemed nice enough. He moved towards her, and took her arm.

"You look stunning tonight, Marie." he whispered huskily into her ear. She blushed in response.

"Um...thank you."

"I'm so glad that you've recovered. That was quite a fall that you took." he said concernedly. Hermione smiled lightly, hoping to disguise the fact that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Now, I shall take you to your room. You'll love it, I'm sure." said Xavier with a grin.

They bade good night to his parents and Malfoy (who looked sour), and ascended the stairs to the second floor. Xavier led the way down the winding corridor until they arrived at a door that looked identical to all the other doors along the hallway.

"Here we are, Marie." he said simply, placing his hands over her eyes in a mock blindfold.

"I won't peek you know." Hermione said, batting his hands away. She squeezed her eyes shut obligingly. He smiled fondly at her, and opened the locked door.

He led her into the middle of the room, and told her to open her eyes. She did and the most welcome sight met her eyes. There was a plush burgundy carpet under her feet and a matching burgundy bedspread with gold trimmings on a four poster bed. There were also several matching fluffed up pillows. (A/N: think Gryffindor) There was an ornate wooden desk on the far side of the room and matching chair. An armoire was on the opposite side of the room, made from the same kind of wood.

It was simple, and very patriotic to her house. But how on earth did he know about Gryffindor?...

"I had the room decorated in your favourite colours, Marie." He said, reading her mind.

Hermione assumed that she had told him that her favourite colours were red and gold sometime in the past. She smiled brightly, gave him an ecstatic hug.

"Thank you, Xavier! It's perfect."

He grinned and then looked into her eyes meaningfully. Hermione was taken aback by how bright his eyes were, and how straight his nose was and how soft his lips looked and... a moment later those lips were on hers and he was kissing her softly.

Now she could smell Xavier's musky cologne which was so different from Malfoy's. He wasn't a bad kisser either, she thought dreamily. Then suddenly he pulled back, and gave her a nervous look, as though he had invaded her space.

Hermione immediately regained her senses and realised what she was doing. Technically what she was doing wasn't wrong...they were betrothed after all. But it seemed as though he didn't know her well enough, and this was probably their first kiss ever.

"Uh..." stammered Hermione awkwardly.

"Well, I suppose I should go now, Marie. I've got some things to do before I go to sleep tonight. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." He said quickly, turning to go. Then he thought the better of it, and went back to give Hermione a peck on the cheek.

"Good night, my sweet." said Xavier quietly.

"Good night to you too, my lord." replied Hermione with a small smile. She watched him walk to the door and shut it behind him. When he had left she collapsed onto her bed and lay there grinning like a Cheshire cat. Things weren't looking so bad after all...

**A/N: **Hehe. Thanks sooooo much for all your reviews guys! :) Really cheered me up, and motivated me! Btw, this isn't going to be your normal Hermione/Draco mushy story. I want to give it more twists than usual : ).

Ok, replies to the reviews:

**Meg**: Hey! Oh my god, thanks so much for coming back for my second story : )

**Written: **Thanks for your support, ummm what didn't you get before?

**AL BLACK: **Yeah, this isn't going to be the usual Hr/D fic, so stay tuned : )

**ShadowVixen90: **Thanks for your compliment, yeah actually I do learn French at school. I'm pretty bad at it though...I hope that the French bit in the chapter made sense.

**Foxer: **I can't remember if I've read DeChantal's story actually. I think I read another fic by her...not sure. I'll check and read it again anyway :)

**Emikae: **Yeah, there are quite a few time travel stories now eh? But I've had the idea for this one for awhile, I only just found the time to actually write it. So, stay tuned for more.


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"I can't believe Dumbledore wants us to search all the French family trees for Hermione and Malfoy's names." said Ron in disbelief, and Harry nodded in agreement.

"It's too farfetched to work. As if their names will be the same!"

"But you'll never know until we've tried." Blaise Zabini said from behind them. Ron and Harry turned around to face him with forced smiles. He wasn't as bad as Malfoy to them, but they weren't exactly buddies either. Blaise saw the looks on their faces and sighed.

"Look, I want Draco back as much as you want Granger back. I think we should put our differences aside and co-operate with each other for this. That way we can get them back as soon as possible." He proposed.

Ron and Harry glanced at each other. Blaise was right, of course...three heads were definitely better than two.

"Sure. Lets get to work." Harry said. And with that the three of them all took some French family tree records from the library shelves and began to search them for the names of their lost friends.

--

'Out of all people he had to be betrothed to, did it have to be Granger?!' fumed Draco silently in his room.

He couldn't believe his luck, not only was he stuck in France with Granger, but she just _had _to be betrothed to his brother. It would've just been a whole lot easier if she was some unknown girl that he 'ran' off with to England. At least from there they could've found a way to get back to Hogwarts and inform the Headmaster that they were in fact, from the future and somehow get back to their friends and family.

'Ok, calm down Draco. Look on the bright side, at least now you're not alone in 18th century France. And her betrothal to your brother makes everything simpler, you don't have to go through all of Paris looking for her and Weasley and whoever else was involved with the accident. Its now just a matter of thinking up a plan to get back to Hogwarts.' he thought.

It was strange that fate should play such a dirty trick on him. Fate had been pretty kind to him - he was blessed with good looks, intelligence and wealth, the whole package. But being stuck in 18th century France with one of his enemies?! That was just cruel. Especially since Granger was not only Saint Potter's best friend, she was also smartest witch in the grade - the bane of his academic frustrations. But it was doubly cruel because he had been studying so hard all holiday just so that he could beat her this year, and now his studying was probably going to be useless - it was highly unlikely that they would get back to Hogwarts any time soon, especially since they had lost their wands on their trip back in time.

His mind wandered back to when he had first seen Granger in the foyer. She had looked so unlike herself - in fact she looked almost pretty. He had never really registered that Granger was actually _female _until tonight. She never showed off her uh, assets much at Hogwarts, and it was surprising that the Mudblood actually did have a figure, considering that she hid it under shapeless robes at Hogwarts. And her face wasn't too bad either...except she hid _that _behind all her books. Now why would someone like her actually want to hide themselves behind books and robes too big for them?

Draco knew that Pansy would love to look like Granger. She was slender, but not a stick and she had an almost pretty face, well...prettier than Pansy's anyway. She was also intellectually equal to him (or so he would like to think). In fact, he would probably be attracted to her if she wasn't a Mudblood. Shame that she was and Pansy wasn't. Life would've been much more bearable if he didn't have to spend the rest of his with Pansy.

Suddenly he realized exactly what he was thinking about, and he mentally slapped himself in punishment.

'What the hell. Now is _not _the time to be thinking about the Mudblood. Now is the time to be thinking up a brilliant plan to get us out of this damn place.' Draco berated himself.

He lay on his bed and racked his brain for a plan. There were no ideas forthcoming.

"Damn this all to hell!" Draco exclaimed in frustration. He jumped up and began to pace around the room, but that didn't help him think either. He stared for awhile at his heavy wooden door looking for some inspiration, but needless to say, that didn't help him either. Finally he pushed open the door and looked down the corridor.

Should he?

Would she mind?

Oh well what the hell, they needed to have a talk anyway, might as well do some brainstorming together while they were at it.

And with that, he strode down the hallway in search of Granger's room.

--

Hermione had just put on her bathrobe and was in the process of drying her hair when she heard a knock on the door. Quickly she went to open it, wondering who was on the other side...a part of her hoped that it was Xavier, while another more rational part hoped that it was Malfoy, so that they could figure out a plan to get back to Hogwarts.

To her surprise, it was neither of them. It was Lady Malfoy.

"Oh, good evening Lady Malfoy...I wasn't expecting -" she stammered in shock.

Lady Malfoy smiled kindly at her and put a finger to her rose pink lips. Hermione shut up straight away and looked meekly at the floor, she felt so embarrassed that her future mother-in-law had seen her looking so...dishevelled. Her hair was bushy from the shower and she was sure that her wet feet had left tracks on the plush carpet. To make Hermione feel even worse, Lady Malfoy was still wearing her formal dinner dress and looked gorgeous.

"Marie, you must be wondering what I am doing here at such a late hour..." Lady Malfoy began uncertainly. Hermione smiled weakly in response. Was something wrong? Was the betrothal going to be called off?

"I just wanted to have a talk with you."

'Oh my god. I haven't even been here for a day and she hates me.' Thought Hermione in shock. Lady Malfoy saw the look on Hermione's face and hurriedly reassured her.

"Oh, no it is nothing serious! There's nothing wrong, I just wanted to talk to you about Xavier."

"Oh! What about him?" asked Hermione curiously.

"He is a very...strange boy lets just say. He has never been the type to want to settle down, his father and I have been trying to get him to think about his future for a very long time and we have had no success. Then suddenly he met you, and all he wanted to do was settle down." She paused here, to check Hermione's reaction. She was nonplussed.

"Marie, what I am trying to say is that Xavier seems to have changed after he met you. I don't know if it is a permanent change, or if it is just one of his phases...but I want to warn you about his fickleness in any case. Xavier tires of things easily, and I don't want you to be hurt if something does happen with you two - you must understand that he has always been like this, even as a child and that he doesn't mean any harm by it."

Hermione was slightly shaken, still trying to process what Lady Malfoy was telling her. She figured that in a very long-winded way, she was trying to say that Xavier was a...playboy?

"Uh, I understand Lady Malfoy. Thank you for informing me...I appreciate it."

Lady Malfoy smiled awkwardly in response. "I don't want you to get hurt by my son, Marie. You are a good girl, I can see that much."

"I can look after myself." was Hermione's reply.

"I know. Good night Marie, I'm sorry to have disturbed you."

Then Lady Malfoy walked out of the room shutting the door behind her, leaving Hermione to ponder what she had just heard. What the hell was all that supposed to mean? Was Lady Malfoy trying to scare her into breaking off the engagement?

Suddenly another knock jerked Hermione out of her thoughts. She hurried to the door as the knocking got more insistent, wondering if Lady Malfoy was back for more scaring. Instead the door swung open to reveal none other than Malfoy junior himself.

A/N: Hehe, cliffie : ) stay tuned for the next chapter guys! Thanks for all your reviews btw, keep them coming please : ).


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

_From Last Chapter: '_Suddenly another knock jerked Hermione out of her thoughts. She hurried to the door as the knocking got more insistent, wondering if Lady Malfoy was back for more scaring. Instead the door swung open to reveal none other than Malfoy junior himself.'

"Ah, so this one is your room Granger. Damn all the doors in this place look exactly the same." he said with a roll of his eyes.

What?! No Mudblood, no sneering, just a normal greeting? Hermione was suspicious, Malfoy seemed to civil to be true. Of course, he had been very uh, courteous when he had greeted her down in the foyer earlier on but here in her room they were far from the eyes of his 'parents' and there was no need for civility.

So why was he still acting like that?

"Granger? What's wrong with you? Has time travel finally shut you up?" he sneered, his old self coming back. Hermione relaxed - now this was the Malfoy that she knew and loathed.

"What do you think, Malfoy?" she shot back.

"Apparently not." He replied, then he moved past her into her room, "Not too bad, Granger. Looks like my brother's really got an interest in you, though I don't see what's so interesting about _you_."

"Look, if you came here just to taunt me, then I suggest that you leave now." she snapped at him.

"No, of course not. Why would I spend half the night looking for your room just to taunt you?" he replied innocently. Hermione glared at him, positive that he had something up his sleeve.

"Look, Granger I came here for two reasons. The first is to propose a truce, so that we can at least keep up with appearances with the 18th century Malfoys, and so that we can work together successfully to get back to Hogwarts."

Hermione was silent as she processed this information. On one hand, she felt like rebelling against Malfoy's logic and refusing his offer, on the other hand she knew that she needed to cooperate with Malfoy so that they could get back to Hogwarts soon. She frowned, she didn't trust Malfoy...what if he just left her behind after they found out how to get back?

"Granger, its really not a hard decision to make. Either you go back to Hogwarts, or you're stuck in 18th century France."

"Maybe I wont need to make a decision. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will find a way to take us back." Hermione answered stubbornly.

"Dumbledore? That crazy old fool? I don't think he even knows what happened in the dungeon. I'm pretty sure he knows nothing about Potions - he's more of a wand magic person if you know what I mean." Malfoy drawled, "He's never tried to vanquish Voldemort with a potion has he? No, its always been with a wand...hey what are you staring at Granger?!"

Hermione jaw had dropped. She was stunned to find that Malfoy, Death Eater in training actually had the guts to say the Dark Lord's name. The only two people that ever said His name were Harry and Dumbledore. And yet...

"Hello, Granger?"

"Uh...yeah?"

"Never mind. What's wrong with you? Were you even listening to what I was saying?"

"Yes I was."

"Well have you made up your mind yet? Are we going to cooperate or not?"

Hermione scratched her head, she didn't know what to do. She was positive that Malfoy had no idea what he was on about and that he only wanted a truce because he wanted _her _to find a way back to Hogwarts. But then she felt that she should take a risk and cooperate with him because two heads were always better than one.

"Fine, you can tell me your decision later. I'll tell you the second reason why I'm here. I came here to talk to you about this little situation that we're in. In case you haven't noticed, we're not only stuck in 18th Century France, we're unable to perform magic as well." he said.

"What?! As if we cant perform magic!" Hermione exclaimed indignantly.

"Look at that, little miss know-it-all is in denial. When we got transported back in time, we lost our wands. So unless you know how perform wandless magic, (highly unlikely) we're pretty screwed." he answered. Hermione's jaw had dropped again. She had completely forgotten about her magic...

"Then how are we going to get back to Hogwarts?!" she asked panic-stricken.

"Haven't you tried to use magic for the past few days? Or has 'Marie' been too busy to think?" Malfoy shot back, ignoring her question.

"No I haven't. There's just been too much to digest that I haven't had much time to think." Hermione answered quietly. It was true, she had passed out for about a day ever since she had gotten here and in the brief time that she had been awake, she had been dreading her betrothal to Xavier Malfoy.

"Strangely enough, I know how you're feeling." Malfoy answered uncomfortably. He thought back to his feeling of disorientation when he had found that he was in 18th century France. An awkward silence hung in the air between the two enemies - Malfoy broke the ice.

"Where's Weasley?" he asked curiously. Hermione shrugged.

"I have no idea. Where's Blaise Zabini?" she asked.

"Well I don't know where the _real _Blaise is, but I do know where his identical twin lives." Malfoy replied sardonically. Hermione laughed despite the fact that she was laughing at her enemy's joke.

"Xavier does look a lot like Blaise..." she agreed with a grin. Malfoy nodded and rolled his eyes again.

"Shame that he only looks like Blaise. His personality completely sucks."

"It does?" Hermione asked, mindful of what Lady Malfoy had just said to her.

"Oh yeah, he's an arrogant pretty boy who always gets what he wants. I hate those people." He said seriously. Hermione had to keep herself from bursting out laughing - Malfoy sounded like he was talking about himself.

"Yes, anyway Granger, I think I've said enough for tonight. Tell me when you've made up your mind. Good night." said Malfoy civilly. He turned to leave. He was halfway down the corridor when he heard Granger's voice.

"Truce, Malfoy."

--

Ron, Harry and Blaise had been flipping through old musty books in the library for three hours straight. They were bored, tired and absolutely drained of all hope of ever finding Hermione and Malfoy's names in the French family trees.

"What a waste of a perfectly nice Saturday afternoon." Ron moaned, slamming a book shut in frustration.

"I completely agree." Blaise sighed, "Any luck, Potter?"

"Nope." Harry sighed as well.

"What the hell are we going to do?! We've been through practically the whole goddamn library and we cant find anything!" Ron burst out angrily.

"Wait, I found a person called Louise Malfoy...you reckon that's got anything to do with Hermione or Malfoy?" asked Harry hopefully.

"Could be related to our Malfoy." Ron replied.

"It could be. Shame this book doesn't have a family tree for us to check."

"I guess we'll just have to keep on looking." Blaise said. He got up and took a few more books from the shelves to search. He tossed one each to Ron and Harry. After grumbling and muttering under their breaths, they resigned themselves and kept looking.

--

The morning dawned on the Malfoy Chateau and Draco awoke with a start. He had been dreaming about Hogwarts, and he was struck by how much he missed the place.

Sure, he was always complaining about Dumbledore and all these other things while he was actually there, but now that he was so far away from Hogwarts (both in time, and physically) he realized that it really wasn't that bad back there.

He wondered if Snape and Dumbledore knew where they were. He wondered whether anyone missed him (Pansy most likely did) and he wondered if anyone was doing anything to try to get them back to Hogwarts.

He sincerely hoped that they were, at the rate which Granger and he were going at, they would take a couple of months to get back - provided they could actually come up with a plan.

Draco made up his mind to go and research more about the Potion in the library today. He wondered whether Granger would be able to go with him, but then he decided that she wouldn't - she'll probably be spending the day with his brother. Great.

He lazily got out of bed, and got dressed. He cringed when he saw himself in the mirror - the clothes that these people wore were atrocious. Though they were tailor-made to fit him, he still thought that he looked ridiculous. And that was really saying something as Draco looked good in anythingOh well, it wasn't like he had anyone to impress so it didn't matter how he looked, he reassured himself.

Draco was making his way down to the dining hall for breakfast when he heard voices coming from around the corner. Both were male, and one sounded familiar while the other was completely unknown to him.

"She's like a completely different person now." said Xavier.

"So she isn't a stubborn bitch anymore?" asked the unknown.

"No...on the contrary, she seems quite willing to be here. She even let me kiss her last night." Xavier answered.

"Well that's too good to be true, Xavier. She must have something up her sleeve, no one can change that much in a week. She absolutely loathed you last week - no offence." said the unknown.

"I know. But I cant complain." sighed Xavier. At that moment they came around the corner and were face to face with Draco, who had very intelligently opted to pretend to tie his shoelaces to cover up for his eavesdropping.

"Julien! What are you doing down there?" asked Xavier suspiciously.

"Uh...tying my shoelaces obviously." answered Draco with a smirk. He looked up to sneak a peek at who the unknown was. It was a tall man with auburn hair and like Xavier, an air of arrogance.

"But your laces are already tied." said Xavier, glaring at Draco.

"Yeah well I was just checking them. So, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend, brother?" Draco shot back.

"I already have _brother". _Xavier spat.

"No you haven't." Draco retorted childishly.

"Look, stop being so immature. You've known Michel since you were six years old, you fool. Why would I need to introduce you again?" snapped Xavier. Michel laughed, clapping his friend on his back.

"There's no need to be that harsh on Julien." he said, chuckling.

Immediately Draco was overwhelmed by a profound dislike for this man. When he laughed, the laughter didn't reach his eyes, which remained cold and icy. He reminded him too much of his own father...

Father. He would be furious with the school and Dumbledore. They had allowed his only son and heir to vanish into thin air - he would be especially angry as Draco was due to be initiated into the Death Eaters next holiday. Luckily for Draco, he wouldn't need to confront his father about his unwillingness to be a lowly servant of the Dark Lord.

Malfoys should serve nobody but themselves, that was what Draco had been taught. And yet Lucius was willing to serve his Master wholeheartedly. It was such a contradiction, and it had made Draco hate his father even more when he was old enough to realize what a hypocrite he really was.

Draco shook his head and came back to the present. He had tuned out, and now both Michel and Xavier were giving him strange looks.

"Sorry, did I do something wrong?" asked Draco nonchalantly. Xavier rolled his eyes and walked towards the staircase leading down to the dining hall. Michel and Draco followed him in silence.

They entered the dining hall, and saw that Hermione was already seated at the table. He thought he saw Hermione's mouth twitch into a small smile when she looked at him but he dismissed it as a trick of the light.

"Good morning." he said, seating himself down directly across from Hermione.

Xavier had, of course, taken the seat beside Hermione and Draco was forced to watch as he openly showered her with affection. It was disgusting, how he held her hand in his, and how he fed her bits of his breakfast. Was he trying to make them lose their appetites, or was he merely flaunting the fact that she was betrothed to him?

Draco suspected that it was the latter. He was in for a very long and painful breakfast.

A/N: ok. I had a severe case of writer's block, and I have absolutely no idea where the story is going...scary as that sounds. So I apologise for the long delay in updating, and I apologise for the boringness of this chapter - its just a filler/developer chapter...I'll think up something interesting for the next chappie ok? J Alright, thanks for reading and PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six **

Hermione had just arrived at the dining hall and politely greeted Lord and Lady Malfoy. Neither Draco nor Xavier were down yet, and Hermione had to admit that she was a little bit disappointed by that. Soon afterwards Lord and Lady Malfoy finished their breakfasts and politely excused themselves from the table, explaining that they had engagements they had to get to.

Hermione didn't miss the subtle look that Lady Malfoy gave her as she left the room - the memories of her conversation with her last night were still fresh in her mind. She wasn't sure whether to believe her or not, as she felt as thought Lady Malfoy was just trying to break them up.

Before long, the doors to the hall swung open again and Draco and Xavier walked in with another man. Hermione felt her mouth twitching into a small smile when she saw Draco and Xavier, but she wasn't sure which one she was smiling at. It wasn't as though her and Draco were all buddy buddy now that they had a truce and its not like her and Xavier were really that good together...they barely even knew each other. Hermione wiped the smile off her face quickly.

"Good morning." Draco said as he sat down across from her.

Hermione nodded in response, and smiled at Xavier who had taken the seat next to her. After a brief introduction to his friend, Michel, they began to have breakfast. Xavier took her hand in his, entwining their fingers together. Hermione didn't have a problem with that, it was normal for fiancés to hold hands. But it was when he started to feed her bits of his breakfast that she felt that he was going overboard.

She felt so uncomfortable, feeling Draco and Michel's eyes on her as they watched the whole spectacle. She wanted to melt away on the spot and go back to Hogwarts and have breakfast at the Great Hall with Ron and Harry. She didn't want this...she really wanted to go home. She gently pushed Xavier's incoming spoon away and excused herself from the table.

"Marie, we are going to have a picnic today. I will meet you in the foyer in half an hour. Is that alright with you?" he said.

"Uh, that sounds good to me." she replied, heading out of the hall. She did not miss Draco's look of disgust as she and Xavier exchanged smiles.

Hermione decided to take a longer route to get back to her room. She wanted to explore more of the chateau - more specifically she wanted to find out where the library was. So she wandered around for short while, thinking mournfully about all the classes and events that she was missing out on back at Hogwarts when she stumbled upon a room that looked very much like a library.

She hesitantly checked around the half-closed door to see if anyone was in there already, and when she was satisfied that there wasn't anyone, she walked in. Almost immediately a pair of hands covered her mouth from behind preventing her from screaming out, though she did try to bite the person.

"Mmmphhhh!" she said angrily. The door closed and locked behind her and the hands were removed from her mouth. She spun around heatedly to face her attacker. It was Malfoy - not the annoying one, it was the prat that she had a truce with.

"What did you do that for?!" she yelled furiously.

"Shut up Granger!" he whispered back at her. She glared at him and lowered her voice.

"Fine. Why did you do that, you git?"

"Because I needed to talk to you?" he answered. She snorted.

"Yeah and you couldn't find a nicer way to do that apart from grabbing me from behind and covering up my mouth." 

"Well it was the easiest way. Besides, that's not the point - the point is that we need to talk." he replied nonchalantly.

"Ok, so talk." she said bluntly.

"Well I was just thinking that we should meet here tonight and do some research on the potion. What do you think?" he asked.

"I think that's a good idea - except I don't know whether I'm free tonight." Hermione replied. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah that's right, you're probably going for a sappy moonlit walk with my dear brother tonight." he deadpanned.

"Funnily enough, that's probably what's going to happen." she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"God you two make me sick." Draco said, pretending to gag. She slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"Shut up. It's not my fault."

"Yeah whatever. Anyway, just try to come tonight. I'll wait for you and do some research myself first." he said, unlocking the door.

"Yeah I'll try. See you soon then." she answered, exiting the room.

Draco stared at her until her retreating back had disappeared from view. Hm, the Mudblood really wasn't too bad after all, he thought to himself. She was relatively civil now and his only source of company here at the chateau, sadly enough. He really needed to get out and find himself some more ahem, company.

Bearing that thought in mind, he exited the room too and made his way out of the chateau.

--

Hermione met Xavier in the foyer at the assigned time and looked apprehensively at the basket of food that he clutched in his hand. She didn't know what she would do if he decided that he wanted to feed her lunch as well.

"Shall we go now, Marie?" Xavier asked, interrupting her thoughts. She nodded, and they climbed aboard a carriage which took them to the assigned picnic spot somewhere near the chateau.

Hermione and Xavier didn't say anything to each other at all during the carriage ride there, and she was relieved to get out of the carriage when it finally reached its destination. She was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable around him.

Hermione surveyed her surroundings - a grassy area, shaded by leafy trees set next to a duck pond. The whole place was really picturesque and she swore that she had seen the exact same place on a postcard somewhere before. Xavier caught up with her and took her hand. Again, she did not protest, at least this was normal relationship behaviour.

He led her to a shady area near the pond and laid out a rug which they sat on. Hermione glanced up in surprise when she saw that Xavier's friend Michel had joined them with his girlfriend. She was relieved to see that she wouldn't be alone with Xavier for the picnic, she wouldn't know what to do if he tried to make any moves on her.

Of course she found the attention flattering, but even though he was so handsome, Hermione didn't feel any connection with him. She had not been lusting after him ever since their kiss last night even though it was her first in a very long time, so that was really saying something.

Michel introduced his girlfriend Claire to her, she was a very pretty petite girl. They settled themselves comfortably onto the picnic rug and began to eat the delicious gourmet sandwiches that the kitchen had packed for them.

"So, Marie how do you find Xavier?" asked Claire quietly while Xavier and Michel were having an animated conversation about ships.

"Oh, he's really kind. And sweet, and thoughtful and nice and..." Hermione trailed off, seeing the surprised expression on Claire's face. She laughed nervously, "Well as you can see I'm completely overwhelmed by his affection."

"Ah of course. I have heard all about you from Michel and Xavier, he is absolutely infatuated with you." she answered knowingly. Again Hermione laughed awkwardly...she didn't know what to say to that.

"Ladies, what do you say to a lovely stroll around the grounds?" said Xavier gallantly, offering Hermione his arm. Michel did the same to Claire. They both accepted graciously, though Hermione was once again apprehensive about the stroll. She relaxed however, upon seeing that they would be walking with Michel and Claire instead of alone.

They walked along the banks of the pond behind the other pair and made small talk with each other. Hermione was again struck by how little chemistry she and Xavier had. How could 'Marie' have ever liked this guy? But then again they were betrothed, so maybe she had no say in the matter from the start anyway.

"Xavier, how long have we been betrothed for?" she asked quietly. He gave her a strange look.

"Don't you remember, Marie? It's only been a month." he replied suspiciously. He stopped and held her face in his hands, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No, no I'm fine. I just cant remember, that's all." she said meekly. He gave her a concerned look and pulled her close to him. Hermione was completely caught off guard by the gesture and had to restrain herself from pulling away. Being with him had been just so wrong ever since their kiss.

"I'm worried about you, Marie. You don't seem yourself."

Haha. You don't know how right you are. Hermione thought sardonically to herself.

"Michel, Claire I'm going to take Marie back to the chateau. She's not feeling well." He called out to the couple. They nodded and waved goodbye to them, shouting that they would see them later.

Xavier walked Hermione back to the picnic spot and proceeded to pack everything back into the basket. Then he escorted her to the carriage, which had been sitting there waiting for them ever since they had arrived.

"Xavier, I'm fine. You don't need to end the picnic just because of me. I can get back to the chateau myself." Hermione protested. They argued a bit more about it, until Xavier finally gave in to Hermione and let her ride back to the chateau herself.

Hermione felt relieved immediately as the carriage pulled away from the picnic spot. She couldn't explain it - it was as though a burden had been lifted from her. She no longer had to pretend to be someone that she was not. She had a nagging thought in the back of her head - she suspected that Marie had not liked Xavier before.

Soon the carriage arrived at the chateau and Hermione alighted and went back into the foyer. From there she decided to go to the library and do some preparation research, just in case she couldn't get much done tonight.

--

On the other side of the chateau Draco had just awoken from a nap. He rolled over and discovered that he had indeed found some company - in the form of an astonishingly blonde nymph he had found at the club he found out that he belonged to. She stirred as Draco rolled over and smiled sleepily at him.

"Bonjour, mon cherie." he said, eliciting a giggle from the girl.

"Bonjour Monsieur Malfoy...quelle heure est il?" (hello mister Malfoy, what time is it?)

"Quinze heures." (3 pm) he replied.

"Oh la la! Je suis en retard." (Oh no, I'm late!) she gasped, practically jumping out of the bed and getting dressed.

"Pourquoi?" (Why?)

"Parce que j'ai un rendezvous avec mon amie." (Because I have an appointment with a friend.)

"Bien sur. Alors, au revoir, ma belle." (Of course, so good bye my beautiful.) He said with a wink as she left the room, calling out a thank you to him.

Draco yawned and stretched, feeling somewhat refreshed after that bit of exercise. He figured that he still had a few hours until dinner was served, and that was ample time for a bath. He needed to clean himself up.

Three hours later, Draco emerged from his room at the sound of a gong signalling the start of dinner. He hurried down the hallway and coincidentally met Hermione at the head of the stairs. Her hair had turned into a giant frizz ball once again and she looked quite tired.

"Whoa what happened to you, Granger?" he sneered.

"Shut up Malfoy. For your information I've been in the library researching. Anyway what happened to you, Malfoy? You're positively glowing." she shot back, giving him a suspicious glare.

"Er...well...lets just say I got -"

"Lucky?" Hermione quipped.

"Bingo." he answered with a smirk.

"Oh my god I can not believe you! We're stuck back in time and you go and get yourself laid. Can't you at least hang on until we're back at Hogwarts? You're not going to die just because you didn't shag someone for a month you know." she burst out wildly.

"Granger, has it occurred to you that a man's needs and a woman's needs are different? All you might need is friendship and sympathy, but a guy needs a whole lot more than just that - we need the whole package." he replied smoothly. Hermione glared at him.

"I don't care. You're such a pig, Malfoy." she spat angrily.

"Ok, fine I'll admit I'm a pig. But at least I'm a good looking pig." he smirked, "Now lets not hold up dinner for the family, Granger. Let's get going."

Hermione opened her mouth to protest to the 'good looking pig' comment, but then shut it abruptly, realising that he was right - about holding up the dinner of course. They hurried down the stairs and strode into the dining hall. But just before they entered the hall, Draco whispered to Hermione.

"Don't forget to meet me in the library at eight o'clock tonight." She nodded and walked over to where Xavier sat, taking a seat next to him.

"Good evening." She greeted them politely.

"Marie, are you feeling better now?" asked Xavier kindly. He seemed unfazed by her abrupt exit from the picnic.

"Oh yes." she answered with a smile.

"Why did you enter with my brother?" he inquired with an edge to his voice.

"Uh, well we just happened to be in the foyer at the same time, so we entered together." she replied, a bit unnerved by the way he asked her about it. There was almost a predator-like gleam in his eyes.

"Is that so? Alright then. Have a bite of this dish, its absolutely delicious." he said after a pause, dismissing the issue.

Hermione relaxed, Xavier was back to normal, as evidenced by the way he was again spoon feeding her bits of dinner. Hermione mentally rolled her eyes, it was going to be another _long _meal.

**A/N: well there you have it, chapter six : ) thanks to my reviewers - emikae, mir, Lady Delphinia and Meg, you guys rock. Now...I want more reviews or else I'm not updating!**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Draco had left the dining hall as quickly as he politely could. Xavier was doing that annoying pampering thing again to Granger. He couldn't stand the way the smarmy git was behaving, and he couldn't understand why Granger was allowing him. She couldn't possibly _like _him could she?!

He huffed all the way to the library, where he immediately busied himself with gathering books that could be used for their research session later on. He was in the process of climbing a ladder to reach one of the books higher up when a couple of voices drifted in through the library door. He quickly descended and hid in the cloak closet.

"I'm telling you, Michel. Something is _not _right!" came Xavier's frustrated voice.

"You are overreacting my friend. Just...go with the flow."

"She hated me before, why is it that she has an accident and suddenly she's changed?"

"I don't know. Maybe she has amnesia." replied Michel, with a chuckle.

"Maybe. I don't like it at the moment. Everything is too easy. I mean she does not protest when I spoon feed her - do you remember her reaction the last time I tried that?"

"How could I forget? You wound up with her dinner splattered over your suit." Michel laughed again, Draco fought to stifle his laughter and Xavier sighed.

"Michel, you know the reason why I'm marrying her."

"Because she's the only girl who isn't in love with you, you arrogant git."

"That's right. Arrogant as that may seem, it's the truth." Draco rolled his eyes at this comment.

"Well now she likes you. Don't complain, Xavier."

"I'm not! It's just that I was looking forward to breaking her slowly, until she was mine completely. She's making it too easy - and I want a challenge, it makes the prize all the more sweeter at the end."

Draco almost gagged at this, as he realised what Xavier meant by the 'prize at the end'.

The thought of Granger sleeping with him was disgusting.

"Of course. Well I had better leave, it is getting late. Good night, Xavier." said Michel. And Draco heard the sound of footsteps heading towards the library door, signalling that they had left the room. But he was afraid that they might double back to get something from the library, so he stayed in the closet for another five minutes, just to be safe.

He mulled over what he had just heard - it seemed that this whole sickening affection thing that Xavier was doing was just an act that Granger was falling for. Stupid girl. And it seemed that the real Marie didn't like Xavier...well...he didn't blame her.

The sound of footsteps reached his ears again, and he stiffened against the wall of the closet. What if Xavier had left a cloak in the closet or something...his worst fear came true as the closet door swung open and Draco was still crouched inside it, with nowhere to hide.

"Malfoy?!"

Phew. It was only Granger.

"Yes Granger, its me." he replied calmly, gracefully climbing out of the closet.

"What were you doing in there?" she asked curiously.

"None of your business." he answered curtly. She shot him a sour look.

"We have a truce, Malfoy."

"So? Doesn't mean I have to tell you everything." he replied shortly.

"Fine. Be like that." she huffed. There was a few moments of silence as they both glared at each other.

"Oh fine, if you really must know I was eavesdropping." Draco explained with a sigh, conceding defeat to Granger's death stare.

"On who?"

"Who else?!"

"Your parents?!" she asked stupidly.

"No you idiot. Your husband-to-be." he answered with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh. Hey, I'm not an idiot!" she exclaimed angrily.

"Yeah whatever." He ignored her and walked over to the desk where he had placed several books to do with Potions, or as close as they could get to Potion books. They were mainly chemistry books, with a couple of so called 'witchcraft' books.

"Here, read these." he said, throwing two over to her. She caught them, and scowled at him.

"What did you overhear?" she asked sourly.

"Oh...the usual. He still thinks he's the king of the world." Draco replied vaguely.

"What else?" Draco thought for a bit. Should he tell her what he had overheard or not?

"Uh, well he's, you know, enjoying your company." he answered feebly. Hermione raised her eyebrows, but did not press any further. They flipped through their books in silence.

"Found anything yet?" asked Draco after a while.

"Yeah, how to brew a so-called Love Potion." Hermione muttered. Draco raised his eyebrows at her.

"That means I haven't found anything yet." she added quickly.

And so this went on until almost midnight when Draco gave a jubilant shout and jumped up in celebration.

"I remember now - Snape told us that the counter ingredient to murkwood is this Muggle spice, its called saffron. Its got magical properties when used in Potions. Do you remember, Granger?" Hermione nodded slowly.

"Yeah, vaguely. So what do you propose that we do about it?" she asked.

"We're in Paris aren't we? I'm sure a big city like this would sell Muggle spices right?"

"So you're going to go and buy saffron. Then what? How are we going to get all the other ingredients for the potion? They're not Muggle."

"Ah. Well I'll get the saffron first, then I'll go looking for the magic stuff. I'm sure Paris has a Wizarding Quarter." said Draco confidently.

"Ok. You can take responsibility for finding the ingredients and a proper cauldron - I'll brew the Potion. I'm going to sleep now, it's pretty late already." said Hermione with a yawn.

"Good night, Granger. Sleep well." said Draco with a small smile. Hermione gave him a funny look.

"G'night, Malfoy." She turned to leave the room, still puzzled at Malfoy's civility.

--

Harry burst into the Great Hall during breakfast and went immediately to the Gryffindor table, dragging Ron from his breakfast. He did the same to Blaise, to the displeasure of the Slytherin table.

"What's this all about Harry?" asked Ron.

"You've _got _to see this." was all he said. He led them to the library and to the corner where they usually did their research.

"Look at this." He pointed to a page in an open book.

They both leaned in to look, and saw something quite startling.

"Whe-where did his name go?" stammered Ron.

"Exactly. Malfoy's name has disappeared off his present family tree, which can only mean one thing -" Harry said quietly.

"He no longer exists in the present?" Blaise supplied.

"Yeah, and he doesn't exist in the past either. I've checked." said Harry.

"What?!" exclaimed Ron, "That's not possible. He's a real person - he cant just disappear into thin air!"

"Maybe he has another name in the past." suggested Blaise.

"Maybe. But its going to be pretty damn hard to find him among all the male Malfoys - they have only produced male children, and they keep reusing the names - you have about twelve Malfoys with Draco as a first name or middle name." sighed Harry.

"Why can't those Malfoys be original for once? I always thought that Lucius and Draco were quite original names - now I know that they just got it off their grandparents." joked Ron lamely.

"It's an upper pureblood tradition to reuse names." explained Blaise, "I got my name from my great grandfather."

"And I got my name from my parents. Don't think there have been any other Weasleys called Ron either - guess that explains why we're not upper class purebloods." Ron said quietly. It was an awkward moment - nobody knew what to say to that.

"Yes, well have you checked up Granger's family tree, Harry?" asked Blaise, changing the topic.

"Its not in here. The Grangers aren't as famous as the Malfoys are, obviously." Harry replied.

"So we'll just have to research all the Malfoys with the name Draco one by one?" asked Ron incredulously.

"Yeah, we've got to pinpoint exactly where in history Malfoy and Hermione are." answered Harry calmly.

"Goddamn, this is really turning into a hassle." muttered Ron.

"But it's a hassle we've got to overcome if we ever want to see them again." argued Blaise.

"Ok, point taken. So lets get to work shall we?"

--

**A/N: **Well, there we go another filler chapter. I promise more stuff will happen next chapter...so stay tuned guys! Thanks soooo much for all your reviews - shout outs to my wonderful reviewers: **Anodyne Letham, mir, Meg, ilovetom88, shadowsylvia, emikae, justafan and Lady-Delphinea **: ) you guys rock! Keep the reviews coming please!


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Draco made his way stealthily out of the chateau. He was on his mission to buy saffron and all the other magical ingredients they needed to get back to Hogwarts, and he had dressed up in the most inconspicuous outfit he could find in his wardrobe - a dark, unremarkable cloth suit.

He ordered one of his coachmen to take him to the centre of Paris and to drop him off on the Champs Elysee, a strange sight to Draco's eyes when he saw the absence of all the Muggle designer stores lining the famous avenue. What really freaked him out was the absence of the Eiffel Tower, which was not built until a century later. It was the bloody symbol of Paris, and the person who designed it wasn't even born yet!

He walked along the Champs Elysee, asking a passer-by where the markets were. When he finally got decent directions, he found himself feeling very out of place in the sea of shouting, lower class people. He probably looked out of place too with his expensive tailored suit, and he caught more than a few of them glaring at him.

He vaguely remembered learning about the French Revolution in Muggle Studies last year, and he wondered if he was living in the Revolution at the moment. He doubted it - if he was, those peasants would probably be wielding axes and threatening to behead him.

He calmed down and was brave enough to ask one of them which stall sold saffron. He asked the vendor for a pinch of saffron, and was surprised to find that it cost him a fair bit - it was barely enough to flavour a dish, but a pinch was all they needed for the Potion. Then he remembered Snape saying that saffron was very expensive because it was rare, and because of its magical properties - though the Muggles didn't know that.

After leaving the market, he was at a loss. He didn't know where the Wizarding quarter was, at least not in this century. He had been to the modern Paris Wizarding quarter several times, but he highly doubted that it was still in the same place. But it was worth a try anyway.

He made his way to the bookshop that was the entrance to the quarter, and was surprised to find that instead of the old musty bookshop that he had been to in modern times, it was a fairly new one. His hopes rose as he entered the bookshop, it was all very familiar to him - it was exactly the same one, only newer. He strode over to the counter and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Are there any _magic _books behind that door?" Draco asked, hoping the salesman would get the hint.

"No. No magic books." the man replied bluntly, looking at him suspiciously.

"What about a Wizarrding quarter, Monsieur?" Draco tried again, hoping very much that this was not a Muggle.

"Very well, come with me." the salesman said quietly. He led Draco to a small storeroom and told him to sit down in the chair. Draco obeyed, wondering if this was going to be an interrogation or something.

"Put out your wand hand." Draco put forward his left hand. (He was left-handed.) The man placed a wand in his hand and asked him to perform a simple spell.

"Wingardium leviosa." muttered Draco, making a book rise off its stack. It had been so long since he had performed magic. The salesman smiled and clapped him on the back.

"Welcome, brother. Come with me." He led him to a room joined to the storeroom and tapped several bricks with his wand. Just like at the Leaky Cauldron, the wall moved apart to form a doorway.

"Merci beaucoup, Monsieur." said Draco gratefully, as he stepped into the Wizarding quarter.

The Paris Wizarding quarter was not so different from Diagon Alley, the same cobbled street, and the same types of shops - menageries, apothecaries, bookshops etc. He made a beeline for the apothecary to buy the Potion ingredients. He emerged fifteen minutes later, with all the ingredients in tow. He grinned, finally feeling a sense of hope - they were on their way back to Hogwarts.

--

"How dare you keep this from me, Dumbledore?!" exclaimed Lucius Malfoy angrily, "My son has been missing for a week!"

"Lucius you must understand that -"

"I don't need to understand anything, I already knew how incompetent you were. I demand that you bring my son back _now_!_" _Lucius shouted.

"Its not as simple as you may think, Lucius. We do not know where in the past they are - and though we have tried to search for his name on your family tree, it has been hindered by the fact that your family seems to reuse their names for their children." replied Dumbledore calmly.

"Leave my family out of this." spat Lucius, "If you cant find Draco on the Malfoy family tree, why don't you look for the Mudblood on her family tree?!"

"We haven't been able to find the Granger family tree." answered Dumbledore.

"I refuse to believe that. Surely the Mudblood's family would have documented their family tree somewhere! Or are Muggles really _that _stupid?" growled Lucius.

"Very well I will contact the Granger family. I'll inform you of any progress made, Lucius." said Dumbledore serenely. Lucius glared at him.

"Get it done, Dumbledore. Or else I'll have to intervene." snarled Lucius, and with that he swept out of Dumbledore's office. Once he had left, the Headmaster summoned Fawkes to him and sent him on a mission to locate the Grangers, they needed to work fast - time was running out.

--

Hermione was sitting stiffly in a carriage once again with Xavier. They were on their way to the city of Paris for a spot of sightseeing. She nodded and smiled politely to Xavier's comments but she wasn't listening to him at all - she was wondering whether Draco had bought the ingredients for the counter potion yet.

She continued to stare out the window, pretending to admire the sights in order to block out Xavier's voice.

"Marie?" She rolled her eyes. What now?

"Yes, Xavier?" she answered politely.

"Where would you prefer to dine for lunch - at a restaurant overlooking the Seine or back at the chateau?" he asked.

Hermione did not answer, because at that moment she saw a certain someone walking along the street carrying a cloth bag laden with goods. It was Draco - there was no mistaking that telltale blond hair and his arrogant strut as he strode along the sidewalk.

Hermione grinned, he had done it! He had bought the ingredients for the potion - at least that's what she hoped was in that cloth bag. Like Draco, she too felt a sense of hope that cheered her up immensely - they were going home!

"Is that Julien?!" asked Xavier suspiciously, looking out of the carriage. Hermione panicked - what if he suspected something?

"Uh...it certainly does look like him doesn't it?" replied Hermione weakly, "But um, I don't think so, Julien is not as tall as that man."

Hermione hoped that her lie would hold, and fortunately the tailored suit that he was wearing really did make him look taller than usual and Xavier settled back into his seat, apparently satisfied with her answer.

"You're right. So what will it be, darling? Lunch on the Seine or at the chateau?" he asked with a smile. Hermione thought for a moment - on one hand she really wanted to see have lunch on the beautiful Seine river, but on the other she wanted to get back to Draco and the potion as soon as possible.

"As lovely as lunch on the Seine sounds, I think I'd prefer lunch at the chateau - I'm feeling a bit tired." she answered sweetly.

"As you wish." he said with a tight smile - he obviously wanted to have lunch on the Seine.

"But if you want to have lunch on the Seine I wouldn't mind." she added quickly, not wanting to make him suspicious. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect, he raised his eyebrows at this change of mind.

"No, no it is quite alright. I'd prefer to have lunch back at the chateau too - our chefs are the best in Paris." he replied. Hermione smiled at him, but he did not smile back, he knew something was up - and he was determined to find out what it was.

--

Draco snuck back into the chateau just in time for lunch. He quickly changed into his usual outfit of a shirt and trousers before making his way to the dining hall. Only his parents were there, and he made small talk with them throughout the meal. He wondered where Granger and the git were. Most likely on a date again, he thought sourly.

He couldn't stand this situation - why did Granger have to be engaged to that smarmy idiot? Xavier was obviously just toying with her, she was just going to get hurt in the end. But why do you care? He berated himself. It wasn't as though it really mattered anyway, since they were going back to Hogwarts soon.

He finished his lunch and excused himself from the table. He went back to his room, and spread the ingredients out on his mahogany desk. Perfect. Not a thing was missing. Now - what was the method for the potion again? A loud knock startled him.

"Come in," he said.

"Monsieur Malfoy, there is a man waiting for you at the back entrance with a delivery." said one of the butlers.

"Thank you, Alain. I'll be down in a moment." he replied with a smile. As the door shut he quickly put the ingredients back into the cloth bag and hid it in his wardrobe. He hurried down to the back entrance where he met the salesman from the Apothecary.

"Monsieur, here is the small pewter cauldron that you ordered." he said, holding out a heavy looking box.

"Thank you very much. I'll take it from here." Draco said gratefully, taking the box from him. He was right, the box was _very _heavy and he staggered from the weight of it.

"Do you need some help, Monsieur?" asked the salesman worriedly.

"No I'm fine. Thank you again, you may go now." Draco snapped, sending the man on his way.

He brought the box back to his room without anyone noticing and took out the cauldron. Draco picked it up and wincing from the weight of it, took it to his bathroom where he decided that they would brew the potion. But upon opening the bathroom door while balancing the heavy cauldron on his knee and other arm he collided with someone and the cauldron dropped to the ground...landing squarely on his foot.

"HOLY SHIT!!! OW!!!" he yelped, hopping around on the uninjured foot.

"Oh my god, Malfoy! Are you ok?!" It was Granger of course.

"Bloody hell! Look what you've done you bitch!" he screamed at her. He was certain that he wouldn't be able to walk for a couple of days. He sat down on the toilet and removed his shoe and sock.

"I'm so sorry! And hey! Don't call me a bitch." she yelled back at him. But she softened upon seeing his swollen foot - it really was a sight. It was already bruised and had swollen to double its usual size, but that was normal considering he had just had a bulky cauldron dropped on it.

"What are you doing in my room anyway, Granger?!" he barked out, trying to ignore the pain.

"I...well I saw you with a bag and I wanted to see if you had gotten the potion ingredients yet." she explained quietly. She moved over to where he sat, and took a closer look at his foot. It looked very painful, she was about to say some comforting words when he spoke again.

"Well then what were you doing in my bathroom?!"

"Looking for the ingredients." she replied nonchalantly. He gave her a sceptical look, and she shrugged, "They weren't in the room, so logically I looked for them in here."

"Fine. Whatever, Granger. Do you have any idea how to make the swelling go down?" he asked weakly.

"Well, I guess we'd better get some ice for you." she replied, "Although there wont be any freezers in this era. So I'm not sure where they get their ice from. So I'll run some cold water for you."

She turned on the tap in the bathtub and helped him sit on the ledge while he soaked his swollen foot in the water.

"Better?" she asked kindly.

"Yeah, much better." he answered with a small smile which she returned. It was an awkward moment between the two - never before had they both been so civil to each other.

"I'll be back soon." she said, leaving the room. He nodded.

She went down the stairs in search of the kitchen, and after asking several maids she found her way there. Unfortunately they didn't have any ice cubes on hand at the moment, but they did have a jug of slightly iced water that Hermione gratefully took from them.

She made her way back to Draco's room and found him almost slipping off the ledge of the bathtub.

"Whoa, need some help there?" she asked.

"Yeah, that would be nice." he replied sardonically.

She put helped him out of the tub and placing his arm around her neck, she supported him all the way back to his bed, where she had placed the jug of iced water.

"Here, it's the best the kitchen could do." she explained, watching him wince as his foot came into contact with the icy water.

"I'll be fine. Look, um maybe you should come back tomorrow - I'll be better and we can start brewing the potion." Draco suggested as she hid the cauldron in a cupboard inside the bathroom.

"Sure. I'll leave you to rest then...and I'll tell Xavier that you injured yourself...um in the library when a heavy book fell on your foot." she grinned. He laughed at the ridiculous lie -

"Yeah Granger, trust you to think up something like that. Sounds like something that would happen to you." he joked. She gave him a mock glare but laughed as well.

"Shut up Malfoy. So I'll see you tomorrow then..." she said quietly. He nodded and she turned to leave.

"Wait, Granger." She turned back around and looked curiously at him.

"Uh, th-thank you." he stammered.

"No problem, Malfoy. It was my fault that you're hurt, so you're my responsibility." she replied, albeit awkwardly.

"Well, thanks again anyway." Hermione nodded and left, closing the door with a soft click.

Once outside, she leaned against the door a bit confused about how her relationship with Malfoy had changed - they were no longer enemies, or even acquaintances now...they might even be friends, she thought giddily. They were finally civil to each other, and Hermione found that Malfoy might not be so bad after all - under that whole jackass attitude of his he might even have a sense of humour. Or a sense of kindness, she thought wryly.

So Hermione strode back to her room in a bit of a daze - she did not notice the pair of eyes which had been watching her every move.

--

**A/N: **YAY! Another chapter done...see more Hermione/Draco action this chappie : ) Thanks everyone for your reviews - hopefully we'll get past the 60 mark this week? nods enthusiastically **Actually...I wont be updating until we get past the 60 mark so pleaseeee review!** Thanks again!

Special thanks to: **Starlight-Heart, Meg, emikae, silverkonekotsukari, The Singing Hippo, Lady-Delphinea and ilovetom88! You guys are the best : )**


	9. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine **

**A/N: Just letting you all know that there are some mildly disturbing scenes and a bit of swearing later on in the chapter so I'll put an asterisk where the scenes start and finish.**

For the next few days, Draco was unable to get out of bed due to his swollen foot. The Malfoys all believed in Hermione's story of a heavy book crushing it, so no suspicion was aroused by the injury. Hermione visited him daily, to the surprise of both of them.

She felt compelled to see him, to make sure he was fine...since she was the one who had caused the injury in the first place. At first, Draco was wary - he didn't want Xavier to become too suspicious, and he wasn't sure why she was being so nice to him. But in the end he gave in, and let himself enjoy her company, they both needed familiarity, something to remind them of Hogwarts, to keep them from going crazy with homesickness.

They hadn't been able to brew the potion yet, since Draco was still bedridden, and because there were many people going to and from his room due to his injury, there was no privacy. So they used Hermione's daily visits as a time to chat, to resolve their differences, and to get to know each other a bit better.

It was strange, but they found many things in common and gradually their friendship became more solid.

"Morning, big foot." Hermione teased as she slipped into his room. He grunted at her from the window where he was standing.

"Oh! You're finally up - congratulations." she walked over to where he stood.

"Yeah," he replied with a small smile, "Hey, did anyone see you come in?"

"Don't think so." she answered, "Why?"

"The family might start getting a bit suss because you're spending so much time in my room." he said quietly.

"Oh come on, its not like I'm in here all day. Anyway, I only come when everyone else is out." she reassured him.

"Still..." he scowled.

"Oh, right I- I get it. You don't want me here?" she asked tentatively.

"That's not what I mean, Granger." he answered quickly.

"So now I'm Granger again?" she shot back.

She felt so strange, it was as though he had distanced himself from her again by calling her Granger. It was as though the past few days never happened, as though they weren't friends. She gave him one last anguished glare and strode quickly to the door.

"Hermione. I -"

"Save it. I don't want to waste your time, Malfoy." she spat out bitterly. And she slammed the door shut behind her.

Draco closed his eyes and swore under his breath. Now what the hell did he do that for? He walked slowly back to his bed, and lay there for a very long time - he couldn't focus...his mind kept replaying the moment when Hermione slammed the door on him. Had he lost his only friend in this goddamn place? He wanted to apologise, he really did...but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Malfoys were not made for apologies - it was an unwritten rule of the Malfoy Code of Conduct.

He bit his lip. He couldn't risk losing Granger...he needed her to get back to Hogwarts, and...he needed her company, he grudgingly admitted to himself. She was really something, he couldn't remember when he had had such intellectual conversations with a member of the opposite sex - given that he was surrounded by ditzy bimbos such as Pansy, Millicent and all the other Slytherin girls, it was a refreshing change to talk to Hermione.

He tossed and turned on his bed for hours, ignoring whoever came to speak to him - he was in such a foul mood. He hoped that Hermione would come back so that he could talk things over with her, explain to her that he was just worried, and that he did want her to keep him company.

But she didn't come.

For hours he lay there on his bed, waiting for her to return...

Draco awoke to the sound of water running in his bathroom. He gingerly got out of bed, and walked slowly to the bathroom, was it Granger in there again? He quietly opened the door, and his heart leaped when he saw chestnut brown hair, but was disappointed to find when the girl turned around that it was just one of the maids, drawing hot water for his bath.

"Thank you, Louise." he sighed. She smiled brightly at him,

"Are you better now, Mister Malfoy?" Louise asked.

"Yes, much better." He answered, "Uh, Louise I've got to go somewhere now, could you prepare my bath later?"

"Not a problem, sir." she replied. He nodded and walked as fast as he could from his room.

His destination?

Granger's room of course.

--

Hermione had sulked in her room all day. She couldn't even understand why she had gotten so worked up about Draco calling her Granger again, after all he had called her worse things before. But it was different now, they were friends - and they needed each other. God, she felt like such a reject. She had probably just lost her only friend in this place.

Hermione didn't know what to do - should she go and apologise to him for her outburst or should she wait for him? She mulled over the question and debated with herself all day, coming up with new reasons for and against. In the end she just gave up in exhaustion, and fell into a fitful sleep.

A loud knock jerked her from her slumber and she blearily opened her eyes and glanced at the clock. Eight pm already?! She hurried quickly to the door and opened it. Perhaps it was Draco, coming to talk things over?

No such luck. It was Xavier. A very angry looking Xavier.

"Where have you been all day, Marie?!" he exclaimed, grabbing her shoulders.

"Just in my room. I haven't been feeling well." She replied meekly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I...all I needed was to rest." she answered. He looked her in the eye steadily.

"You're lying." he said.

"No I'm not!"

"You went to his room didn't you?" Xavier suddenly said softly.

Hermione's eyes widened...how did he know?

"Whose room?"

"You know what I'm talking about." he said, his voice still deadly soft.

"No I'm afraid I don't know." she replied as surely as she could.

"You lying bitch! You've been sleeping with him haven't you?!" he suddenly yelled. His eyes glared at her, daring her to say no.

"Sleeping with who?!" she exclaimed in confusion.

"Julien!" he screamed back at her. She paused for a moment - how could he think that she was cheating on him with Draco?!

Xavier saw her hesitation and his eyes narrowed. Then he slapped her. She fell to the cold ground in shock, clutching her flushed cheek.

"So you're not denying it?" he asked silkily.

"I am! How could you think that -" He slapped her again. This time Hermione tasted blood.

"Michel has seen you visiting him many times, Marie. It's futile to lie to me, I know everything." he snarled.

Hermione was afraid. There was this animal-like gleam in his eyes, she had never seen a man look so angry. He stood towering above her, breathing heavily.

"Xavier..." she whispered. He glared at her. Then in one swift action he picked her up and carried her to her bed.

"Wha-what are you doing?" she asked in shock.

"I'm going to teach you a lesson."

He threw her roughly onto the bed and positioned himself on top of her.

Oh god no.

He began to kiss her forcefully on her lips, his mouth coming down hard and unyieldingly onto hers. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong for her. He had her pinned down on either side. He continued to kiss her, and his hands wandering up and down her body.

Hermione felt so sick. It was wrong to be touched by this... monster. She whimpered and tried to push him away again.

"Stay still bitch." he growled, slapping her again for good measure.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled. His hands were on her thighs and immediately she felt the violation of her privacy.

"Somebody help me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, trying to kick him away.

"I told already you to stay still. No one's going to help you. Legally, you're mine anyway." he whispered in her ear.

Hermione screamed. He had already undone the strips of ribbon holding her dress together, and was pulling it off brusquely, his cold lips kissing her exposed flesh.

"You bastard! Stop!" she yelled again. She was only in her underdress now, and she could feel his unfeeling eyes sizing up her figure. She wanted to throw up. This was just so wrong.

He slipped the shoulder of her flimsy dress off tauntingly.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" she gasped out in panic.

He slipped the other shoulder off and was about to rip the whole dress from her body when he was stopped in his tracks by a cold voice.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing."

Hermione stopped struggling.

It was Draco.

And the look on his face showed that he had only one thing on his mind - punching Xavier senseless.

He hauled his brother roughly by his collar and threw him violently to the floor. Then he proceeded to punch him repeatedly as his brother struggled to get up. Once Draco was satisfied that he had done enough damage to Xavier to prevent him from doing anything, he got up from the floor, and walked over to where Hermione was huddled on the bed.

"Hey, are you ok?" he asked quietly. Hermione was crying and she looked at him with a tear-stained face. They looked at each other for a few moments. Then he put his arms around her and held her close to him. She silently lay her head on his chest.

"I'm so sorry." she whispered.

"So...so am I." he murmured.

"I overreacted this morning and -" she said quickly.

"Shh...that's not important anymore. Tell me what happened." he soothed her.

"He thinks that I'm cheating on him with you." she explained.

"What?!"

"Yeah apparent-" she was cut off as Draco was pulled from her and thrown on the ground.

Xavier, bloody from his broken nose and seething with anger was back for more. He got his brother into a stranglehold and was choking him. Draco was turning blue from the lack of air.

"NO!!!!!" Hermione screamed. She threw her arms out in an effort to stop Xavier.

The moment her fingers came into contact with his skin something miraculous happened.

Xavier was thrown powerfully against the wall by some unseen force, and Draco was released from suffocation.

All three of them were stunned by what had happened.

"Wh - what was that..." stammered Hermione.

"Didn't know you could perform wandless magic, Hermione." replied Draco. She gave him a strange look. And then she looked over to where Xavier lay slumped, winded from the impact with the wall. He had a look of fear in his eyes.

"You're...you're a witch." he whispered. Hermione glanced frantically at Draco. He was looking oddly at his brother.

"So?" Draco spat at him.

"So, I'll have to turn her in, _brother_." sneered Xavier, "The witch hunters are still looking for these devils."

Hermione gasped. Witch hunters?!

"I see." Draco answered shortly. He did some quick thinking and then walked over to where Xavier lay and kicked him in the groin until he was writhing around in absolute agony. Xavier was effectively immobilised. Draco then grabbed Hermione's hand and ran.

They tore through the corridors and dashed down the stairs. Several shocked servants saw them, but were unable to stop them. Draco led Hermione out the back entrance and they continued to sprint away from the chateau into the inky black night.

--

**A/N: **Ohh...what a chapter! Hoped you all liked it! Oh my god, thank you all soooo much for your reviews! That's the most reviews I've ever gotten for a single chapter! I was so surprised and very very happy. Keep it up guys...and stay tuned for the next chapter.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

Hermione and Draco stopped running when the bright lights of the chateau had melted away into the night. They were out of breath, and decided to rest under the cover of a tree with sprawling branches.

"That…was…fun…" puffed Draco. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Shut up. That was _not _fun in any sort of way. That was actually pretty scary…Xavier sounded serious about the witch hunters." she said as reproachfully as she could.

"Don't worry. We'll get to the city centre somehow tonight, get new clothes and new identities. Then we'll get back to England on ship…and back to Hogwarts." Draco reassured her.

"Alright. That sounds good." Hermione replied.

She leaned against the tree, thinking back to what had happened. From the argument in the morning, to sulking in her room all day…to Xavier's attempted assault…it had been a very long and at times frightening day.

"Hey Draco…" she began softly, turning towards him.

"Yeah?" he turned too, and his eyes shone in the darkness.

"Thanks for rescuing me." she murmured.

"Just doing my moral duty." he replied with a grin.

"Well…thanks anyway." she smiled back at him, "I mean, who knows what could've happened if you hadn't…you know."

"Yeah. You have no idea how angry I was when I saw what he was doing. I wanted to hex him into oblivion." answered Draco, his fists clenched as though he wanted to punch Xavier again.

"That reminds me, how did I do that wandless magic?" Hermione asked suddenly.

"You must be very talented. I don't know…could you do wandless magic before?" he replied.

"No…at least not intentionally."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, the only time I remember something like that happening was before Hogwarts. You know, whenever I was in danger from bullies and stuff, something strange would happen and they would disappear. Or they would end up hanging from a tree in the playground. I found it really strange at the time, but now I know that is was just my magic. Do you think its got something to do with what happened?" Hermione answered thoughtfully.

"Maybe or -" Draco was cut off by the sound of hooves.

"Hey, lets hitch a ride." Hermione suggested, she made to get up but Draco stopped her.

"It could be someone from the chateau. Wait here, I'll go and check it out."

He crept stealthily to where the horse and cart had stopped near the roadside. It could sense Draco's presence. It was neighing and pawing the ground nervously.

"Who's there?" asked the horseman. The moonlight shone on his face - he wasn't from the chateau.

"My name's Oscar." he lied smoothly, coming out from the shadows.

"What are you doing in the bushes, Oscar?" asked the man curiously.

"Well you see, me and my wife, er…Lucinda had a falling out with the in-laws, so we've just been resting here. Perhaps you could give us a ride into the city? We'll be most grateful, sir." explained Draco, making himself as humble as he could.

"Where's your wife?" asked the man after a moment. Draco grinned at him.

"Thank you sir."

And he with that he went back to where Hermione was sitting.

"I got us a ride…but if anyone asks, you're my wife Lucinda and I'm Oscar." Draco explained quietly. Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oscar and Lucinda? How original." she remarked dryly as they trudged towards the horse and cart.

"What is that it? No complaints about being my wife?" Draco teased.

"Well, if that's what I'll have to be to get a ride into city, it's a small price to pay." replied Hermione nonchalantly.

"Ah, Oscar what a lovely wife you have." commented the horseman as they ungracefully tumbled into the cart.

"Why thank you, sir." replied Draco, nudging Hermione, "Did you hear that sweetheart?"

Hermione almost burst out laughing.

"Yes I did, darling. I'm very flattered sir." answered Hermione with the straightest face she could manage. This was so absurd!

"Hope this ride isn't too rough for you, madame." said the man.

Hermione shook her head. It was rather soothing in fact…the gentle rocking of the cart was slowly lulling her to sleep…sleep…her head dropped onto Draco's shoulder and he was startled by the sudden weight. But he smiled when he saw her face look so peaceful in her sleep. She had had a hard day, and she deserved a good night's sleep.

The ride into Paris continued silently until they reached their destination. It was a modest Parisian inn that the horseman was to lodge at, which Draco decided for the sake of keeping a low profile, where they would also stay.

He didn't want to wake Hermione, so with the help of the horseman, he picked her up and carried her to the small room that they were to share - of course there would only be one room left, Draco thought sarcastically - it was their fate. He only hoped that she wouldn't mind too much when she woke up and found him lying next to her in bed.

Draco gently lay Hermione down on the somewhat musty looking bed and tucked her in. She was still sleeping soundly. He marvelled at her ability to sleep through all this, yet he also pitied her - as she must be extremely exhausted to have not woken up throughout the whole ride or on the way up to the room.

He went to the washbasin in the corner and washed his face and hands. Refreshed, he came back to the bed in the centre of the cramped room. He debated whether to wake Hermione and tell her that they would be sleeping in the same bed and risk being thrown onto the streets for the night, or to just climb in and face the consequences later.

The latter seemed much more appealing to Draco. So with that he climbed in quietly and blew out the candle that was providing flickering light in the room.

--

"Mr. And Mrs. Granger! Welcome! Please come in and make yourselves comfortable." greeted Dumbledore cordially as Hermione's parents were met at the door of his office.

They smiled a little bit nervously - after all they were still Muggles. They tried to make themselves 'at home' in Dumbledore's office but it was hard with the array of moving paintings and magical instruments decorating the room.

"Have you brought the family tree?" asked Dumbledore softly as they settled themselves into the chairs.

"Yes we have, Headmaster." replied Mr. Granger, handing over a scroll that looked remarkably like a wizard's scroll.

"And have you found any relatives who possibly could have lived in France in the past?" asked Dumbledore.

Mr. And Mrs. Granger glanced worriedly at each other. After hesitating Mrs. Granger spoke up.

"Well Ned did find a branch of the family that had lived in France for one generation. From the history books, it seems as though some sort of scandal happened to move the Grangers back to England."

"I see…and which year was this?"

"They lived in France from the1770's until the 1790's." replied Mrs. Granger.

"Ah I see. Well that fits perfectly…" Dumbledore murmured, pointing a spot on the family tree.

"Marie Hermione Granger. 1772 - ??, daughter of Clarisse and Ernest Granger." read Mr. Granger.

"I'd say that Hermione is almost certainly the French Marie Hermione of the 1770's." said Dumbledore. The Grangers nodded in agreement.

"How will you bring her back then, Headmaster?" asked Mrs. Granger tentatively.

"We have our ways, Mrs. Granger. Don't worry, she'll be fine." assured Dumbledore.

"Okay…" replied Mrs. Granger.

"Well thank you in advance, Headmaster. Please bring her back safely." said Mr. Granger, getting up to leave. They shook hands, and then the Grangers left the office.

Dumbledore accompanied them out the door, he needed to talk to Snape immediately.

--

Hermione felt so groggy. She could feel the rays of the sun shining on her face, but she didn't want to open her eyes. She stretched, and pulling the covers closer to herself, she rolled over…

And found herself pressed up against another body. A nice body, she might add…but that wasn't the point. What the hell had she done last night?!

She quickly ducked under the covers to check if she still had her clothes on. To her immense relief she did. Memories of last night flooded into her brain…ending with the cart ride with Draco.

Draco?

Argh! Had she slept in the same bed as Malfoy??!!!

She nervously looked up…and saw the tousled white-blond hair which confirmed her fears.

"ARGH!!!!" she yelped.

"Ah. Morning, Hermione." responded Draco gingerly, turning around to face her.

He was met with a stinging slap across the face.

"HEY! What was that for?!" he exclaimed, clutching his flushed cheek.

"For taking advantage of my exhaustion!" she shot back indignantly.

"What?! I did not take advantage of you in any way! You've still got your clothes on haven't you?!" reasoned Draco.

"Yeah but you still slept in the same bed as me! You should've asked me for permission." she fumed.

"Look, get over it. I didn't do anything to you. I had nowhere else to sleep…this was the only room left. I would've asked for your permission had you been awake, but since you were sleeping so soundly I didn't want to wake you up…" explained Draco.

"Oh. Well I wouldn't have minded you know, if you had woken me up first." Hermione stubbornly maintained.

"It wouldn't have made a difference. You would've told me to sleep on the floor or something…and we would've gotten into an argument anyways because there is no way in hell that I'm going to sleep on the cockroach-rat-vermin infested floor." replied Draco quietly with a grin.

Hermione paused and then grinned back at him.

"Fine. You are forgiven…just don't do it again…and if you must sleep in the same bed as me, please ask me first ok?"

"As you wish." answered Draco charmingly.

"Ok. I'm putting my trust in you - don't abuse it." Hermione said seriously.

"I wont abuse it." Draco solemnly replied.

There was an awkward pause after this and they avoided each others eyes. They both felt as though an unspoken barrier between them had been breached and something had shifted in their relationship. But this was soon forgotten when Hermione pushed Draco off the bed.

"HEY! That was uncalled for!" spluttered Draco indignantly from the vermin infested floor.

"Sorry, just needed more space to stretch." replied Hermione playfully, justifying herself by stretching languorously on the bed.

Draco was suddenly hit with a realisation as he watched her stretch her slender body.

Hermione a) was female

b) had a _really _nice figure

c) and was…well…attractive.

"Um. Draco?"

The object of his thoughts was looking at him quizzically. He quickly looked away from her…he had obviously been staring at her. What the hell are you doing Draco?! He was furious at himself. Here he was, telling her that he wouldn't abuse her trust, and already he was thinking about things that couldn't happen…shouldn't happen…

"Draco?" Hermione was getting a bit worried. He was sitting on the floor, staring at the floorboards with a frown on his face.

"Look, um I'm sorry about pushing you off the bed…it was just a joke…" Hermione said softly.

"Huh? Um yeah, I know it was just a joke. I'm not angry, I was just thinking…that's all." stammered Draco in response. He met her eyes for a moment and then looked away again.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. What the hell was up with Draco? He was acting so strange all of a sudden.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked him slowly.

"What? No, nothing's wrong." he replied.

"Then why are you acting so strange?" she tried, getting off the bed and sitting next to him on the floor. He jumped slightly at their closeness. He could feel the warmth of her arm on his and the tingling that he felt was definitely not a good thing. He reluctantly got up, being this close to her was doing weird things to his mind.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked, getting up as well.

"Um. To the bathroom, I'll be out in a moment." he answered quickly, striding quickly to the pitifully small bathroom in the corner of the room. He disappeared into it, and shut the door, leaving a very baffled Hermione outside.

**A/N: **Sorry about the horrendously long wait for this not very interesting chapter guys! I had a really bad case of writer's block and I just couldn't get the chapter to work. So I hope its not too bad, and that you guys enjoyed reading it. Thanks for all your reviews…there weren't as many as last chapter though : ( Ah wells. I'm not complaining. Anyways! Read and review everyone - and I'll get another chapter up before Christmas!


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Draco had locked himself into the tiny bathroom. It stank, but at least it gave him a bit of privacy. He was shocked at his behaviour. Since when had Draco Malfoy turned into a nervous idiot around a girl? He was the smooth talking type, the type that made girls believe every word that he said, regardless of whether or not he meant it.

Now he couldn't even put together an intelligent sounding sentence in front of her. What the hell was going on with him?

He banged his head a few times with his fists, trying to knock some sense into himself. He couldn't possibly be attracted to Hermione. She was Saint Potter's girl…and anyway it wouldn't work out between them. Once they got back to Hogwarts, everything would go back to normal between them - the taunting, the glares and the fierce competition.

He took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts. He had made up his mind - he was _not _going to fall for Granger. He couldn't. It didn't matter that they were all friendly now…he couldn't take advantage of her like that. They were both so vulnerable here in this foreign place and if anything did happen - they would definitely regret it later.

So with that in mind, he stepped back out of the bathroom and put a small smile on his face.

"Hey…sorry if I was acting a bit weird before." he started off.

"Don't worry about it." Hermione replied.

"So you don't think I'm an idiot for acting so immature?" he asked quietly.

"I figured you were a bit weird already anyway." she answered with a grin.

"Ah. I see." He relaxed, and got back into his 'normal' mode, "So, I was thinking that we should go and get some new clothes and book a passage to England."

"That's a good idea. Do we have any money?" Hermione asked.

"Of course. Do you actually think that I, Draco Malfoy am broke?" Draco answered indignantly.

"No I -"

"Anyway, we had better get going. We need to get to the travel office early to get a passage to England. I want to leave this place as soon as possible - I'm sure Xavier has people after us by now. We also need to get some cheap clothes…we have to blend into the crowd." Draco cut her off.

"Um…wow…you've actually given this whole thing so much thought." Hermione stammered.

"Of course. Our lives are at stake here, Hermione." Draco replied seriously.

"Don't be so melodramatic." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. You'll be thanking me later." Draco answered, and then he ushered her out of the room, trying to ignore that tingly feeling that he felt when his hands came into contact with the small of her back.

--

Now, Hermione also felt something when he touched her. Sure, it wasn't as though the touches actually meant anything…and they weren't _that _kind of touching but nevertheless she felt this strange sensation. It was like everywhere place he touched was burning - or that her nerves were completely tuned to his touch.

She shook her head.

What was wrong with her? Was all this time travelling and wild escapes from 18th century French chateaus really affecting her so badly that she was actually enjoying contact with Draco Malfoy?

While it was true that he wasn't exactly the asshole now that he was back at Hogwarts, Hermione doubted that he would stay that way…she figured that once he got back to his Slytherin cronies, he would turn back into the resident git of Hogwarts.

Hermione turned and glanced at him. He was walking quite fast and the wind was blowing his silver hair back, giving her a very clear view of his face. Her eyes took in his translucent skin and attractive features, before realising that he was staring back at her.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

"Er…no…I…" Hermione stammered in response.

"Were you staring at me, Granger?" Draco asked with a grin.

"No. Why would I want to do that?" she responded quickly.

"Because you're obviously attracted to me." Draco smirked.

For a moment, Hermione froze. Her brain was unable to formulate a comeback to that comment because Draco had hit jackpot - she _was_ attracted to him. No matter what she had been saying to herself about him, there was undeniable chemistry between them.

"Hermione?…I was just joking" said Draco uncertainly.

"Yeah? I know." she replied slowly.

"Aren't you going to slap me or something now?" Draco asked anxiously.

This was so strange - usually if he made a comment like that, she would have at least shot back some sort of insulting remark…but she had been completely silent. Draco was worried, very worried - her silence was making him jump to conclusions that he shouldn't be and encouraging him to rethink his decision.

"No, Draco we're friends now aren't we? It would be mean of me to slap you." Hermione replied nonchalantly.

Inside, her heart was pounding - she had basically just admitted to him that she was attracted to him by her silence. What the hell was wrong with her?! It was bad enough that she liked him, now he knew and that was definitely going to make things awkward between them.

"Oh is that it? That's good, I can relax now. I never did forget when you hit me back in third year, gave me the biggest shock of my life." Draco grinned.

Hermione relaxed too and grinned back at him - apparently he hadn't noticed anything and he was none the wiser to the mixture of emotions that was swirling around in her stomach. Or he had realised that she liked him but wasn't going to let it get to him or ruin their insecure friendship. She hoped that it was the first one.

"You definitely don't have to worry now Draco. I've decided that you're trustworthy enough, and not as much of an asshole as I thought. So I'll treat you like I would treat Ron or Harry." Hermione announced. Draco raised his eyebrow in response.

"And do the privileges of being treated like Potty and the Weasel include…err…favours?" he smirked.

This time Hermione did slap him, just out of instinct.

"Hey! I thought you were going to be nice to me now!" He exclaimed, cradling his arm where she had slapped him.

"Who said anything about being nice? I said I'd treat you like I'd treat Ron or Harry and that means getting slapped when you make stupid comments like that." Hermione replied smoothly, and kept walking towards the travel office.

After a few moments of standing still of out shock on the footpath, Draco rolled his eyes and followed her.

--

Potions was just ending for the seventh year Gryffindors and Slytherins when Snape ordered three of his students to stay.

"Potter, Weasley and Zabini - you are to remain here. There is a matter I wish to discuss with you."

The three students packed their bags quietly and waited until the rest of the class had left before they walked to the front of the room where Snape sat. They had a pretty good idea what Snape was going to talk them about - it had to be something to do with Hermione and Malfoy.

"As you all know, its been close to a month since Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy have disappeared." Snape started off, the three nodded in unison, "Well thanks to your research in the library and the Grangers' family tree, the Headmaster believes that he knows where exactly in time your friends are stuck. Tomorrow I am preparing to go back to that time to bring them back to Hogwarts."

"Wow…good luck Professor." said Blaise as Harry and Ron cheered and gave each other high fives.

"Thank you Blaise." replied Snape pointedly glaring at the two Gryffindors, "If all goes well, your friends should be back by tomorrow evening."

This time all three students let out cheers, causing Snape to roll his eyes and order them to settle down.

"I don't want you three to get your hopes up just yet. There are a million things that could go wrong." Snape said sternly, then he dismissed them.

As the three of them walked out of the dungeon, Ron asked sceptically,

"What could possibly go wrong?"

--

"Bonjour monsieur, when does the earliest ship sail for England?" asked Draco when they finally reached the counter at the travel office.

The elderly man looked down his nose at Draco as though he was trying to figure out what he was doing there.

"Monsieur?" Draco asked again.

"The earliest ship to sail for England will leave today at three o'clock in the afternoon. I'm afraid there are only five seats available, and they are all first class." replied the man disdainfully, "I might suggest that you wait for the next ship which sails in two days."

Draco felt like slapping him for his haughtiness, because he obviously had no idea about his family's wealth.

"I'll take two first class tickets on the earliest ship then." Draco said smugly, placing the correct money on top of the desk. The man glanced at the money and then back at the seventeen old boy sitting in front of him.

"As you wish, monsieur." he answered in a placating voice.

"I knew he would come around." Draco muttered under his breath to Hermione, who smiled.

The man passed the tickets to Draco and then they left the travel office quietly. But once they had left the vicinity of the travel office, Draco couldn't contain his relief that they were going to be out of France in less than 4 hours. So it was a surprised and slightly embarrassed Hermione that felt two arms pull her to his body.

"What are you doing Draco?!" she asked quickly, trying to hide her blush.

"Expressing my delight that we're finally on our way back to Hogwarts." he replied with a grin. Then he pulled away, leaving Hermione feeling embarrassed and flushed.

"Is there anything wrong, Hermione?" he asked upon seeing her flushed face.

She shook her head, and turned away a little hoping to hide her burning cheeks.

"Are you embarrassed that I hugged you?" he asked quietly.

"I…no…I was just startled by it. It was very…spontaneous of you." she stammered.

"It was just a hug, Hermione, nothing more. Don't worry, I don't mean anything by it. I'm just really relieved that we're finally leaving France." Draco explained seriously, gripping her shoulders so that she couldn't look away.

"I know." replied Hermione firmly.

There was an awkward silence after this, where Draco and Hermione just looked into each others' eyes, trying to figure out exactly what the other was thinking. But then Draco broke the silence.

"We should get going. We only have 3 hours left before the ship sails and we still need new clothes and other supplies for the trip back to Hogwarts."

He took his hands away from Hermione's shoulders and began to walk. Hermione stared at his back for a few long moments before following him, trying to ignore the tingly feeling in her shoulders where Draco's hands had been.

--

**A/N: **I'm so sorry everyone! I knew that I said I would update by Christmas, but then my computer crashed and I've only just gotten it back…so I'm extremely sorry! Hopefully you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please read and review and forgive me…


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Chapter Twelve**

Draco and Hermione were waiting patiently to board the Lady Madeline bound for England, wearing their new clothes and holding their supplies for the trip back to Hogwarts. They were dressed as an upper class British couple, in a fine silk dress and a nicely tailored suit and they blended in perfectly with the dozens of other couples travelling first class.

They weren't really talking much, partly because they were nervous about keeping up appearances, and also because Hermione felt awkward talking to Draco now. She was so angry at herself about letting her feelings get in the way of their friendship, but she couldn't help it…talking to him would make things worse because she would probably be blushing and then he would definitely suspect something.

The couples were getting impatient on the dock, and so they began to mingle. A young good-looking man approached Hermione and Draco.

"Why hello there. How do you do?" he asked.

"Very well thank you And you?" replied Draco.

"I'm feeling excellent. Pleased to make your acquaintance." said the man extending his hand. Draco looked at him for a moment before shaking it.

"The pleasure's all mine." he said courteously.

"My name's Thomas Griffith, I'm in the banking business. How about you?" asked Thomas.

"I'm Oscar Waterford, and this is my wife Lucinda. I'm in the import-export business." lied Draco smoothly. He put an arm around Hermione to reinforce his point. She nearly jumped at the sudden contact, but forced herself to stay calm.

"Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Waterford. I'll just call my wife over so that she can have the pleasure of being introduced to you two." replied Thomas cordially, "Priscilla, darling come over here. I want you to meet my new friends."

Priscilla Griffith had been having an animated conversation with one of the other couples, but glided over gracefully when called by her husband. She was the typical trophy wife of a banker - blonde, slender, beautiful and possibly a bit ditzy.

"Darling, this charming young couple are the Waterfords." said Thomas to his wife. She smiled and extended her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Griffith." said Draco politely, bending down to kiss it.

"And you, Mr. Waterford. There's no need to address me so formally, dear, Priscilla will suffice." she purred in an upper-class accent.

"Well, then its only fair that you call me Oscar ." said Draco. Priscilla laughed prettily, and then turned to Hermione.

"My, what a lovely wife you have, Oscar." she exclaimed.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Priscilla." Hermione said graciously.

"No, it's a pleasure to meet you…" Priscilla replied, inviting Hermione to introduce herself.

"Hermione." she answered. When Draco heard her reply, he tensed. She had just blown their cover! Hopefully Thomas Griffith wouldn't notice…

"What an unusual name." remarked Priscilla.

"Yes darling it is an usual name. But I thought that your name was Lucinda, Mrs. Waterford." Thomas commented, puzzled.

"Hermione is her middle name." Draco replied for her, giving her a look. She bit her lip and tried to smile at the Griffiths.

"Ah I see." said Thomas, smiling back at her.

Just then a whistle blew, signalling the start of the first class passengers boarding. So the 'Waterfords' said goodbye to the Griffiths and began to board the ship. They were directed to a cabin by the steward and Hermione was stunned by the opulence of the room.

It was just like an olden style hotel room complete with a magnificent looking four-poster bed with velvet drapes, a chaise lounge, wardrobe, dressing table and desk. There was a plush dark green carpet under their feet. It was very overwhelming for Hermione, but Draco just walked in without a second glance and settled himself on the chaise lounge.

"It's so beautiful, Draco." Hermione breathed.

"It's all the same to me. I take it that you've never travelled first class?" Draco replied nonchalantly. Hermione sensed that his old attitude was coming back now that he was in more familiar surroundings.

"So what if I haven't?" Hermione retorted.

"Hey, I'm not having a go at you. I'm just asking…" Draco said calmly, then he gestured to the spot next to him on the chaise lounge, "Come sit next to me, darrrling."

Hermione had to smile at his exaggerated accent. So she obliged him and sat herself down next to him on the lounge. She still felt a little increase in her heart rate when she realised just how close she was sitting to him, but it was becoming less and less of a shock to her.

"I'm sorry about slipping up in front of the Griffiths today." she said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure they don't suspect anything. What I really want to say is that you should be more relaxed. You're so tense and stiff around me all the time…you have to let go if people are going to believe that we're husband and wife. As long we both know that it doesn't mean anything, it doesn't matter what I do with you in public, just as long as helps keep us undercover." Draco said seriously, "Are you ok with that?"

"Yeah I understand. Whatever happens outside this room is just for show right?" Hermione replied quietly.

"Well it doesn't have to be outside the room if that's the way you want it." Draco joked, putting his arm around Hermione again. She laughed and shrugged his arm off.

"You know what I mean…"

"So it's settled? You're my wife Lucinda Hermione and I'm Oscar the import-exporter from England." Draco said with a grin.

"Do we need to work out more background for our story?" asked Hermione.

"Hmm…how about this? We're from London, we've just gotten married and we went to France for our honeymoon." Draco suggested.

"Sure, that sounds good." Hermione answered with a smile.

"So you don't mind playing the submissive new wife?" Draco asked with a hint of a smirk.

"Like I said before, if that's necessary to keep us safe, then I'll do it." Hermione replied resolutely.

"It's not _that_ bad being my wife is it?" Draco asked softly.

"How would I know? I've only been your wife three times in public." Hermione answered with a small smile which Draco returned.

He was feeling a bit strange around Hermione now. She didn't seem to want to talk to him, she had basically closed herself off to him. Before they could joke around with each other…but now something had happened to make things awkward between them. It could've been sharing a bed, or his random hugs but Draco honestly didn't think too much about those incidents anymore. He didn't want to think too much about them because he would start to imagine that their relationship wasn't just as simple as a friendship anymore - and he couldn't afford to do that, because by the time they got back to Hogwarts, everything would go back to normal…and they'd go back to being enemies.

He didn't want to know what it would be like to lose Hermione, so he figured that if he never had her in the first place, he wouldn't have to feel the pain. But he definitely felt the chemistry between them. He wasn't sure if she felt it too, but if she did, she was hiding it pretty well. Draco was dealing with it by making serious comments, but then pretending that he was joking. But she didn't seem to be getting the hint, so he doubted that she felt the attraction - if she did, she would've done something about it…pointed it out or something.

He shook his head.

He was thinking too much again.

"Draco?" Hermione said, waving a hand in front of his eyes.

"Yeah sorry I just drifted off for a moment." he replied.

"Ok, do you think that we should explore the ship?" asked Hermione.

"Sure, if you want." Draco answered calmly.

"Are you going to come with me?" asked Hermione, a bit tentatively. Draco raised an eyebrow at her.

"Of course I am! Mrs. Waterford will arouse suspicion if she explores the ship unaccompanied by her husband." replied Draco in an upper-class drawl.

"Point taken. Let's go." Hermione said, opening the door.

To her surprise, the door directly across from their room was also opening - and a familiar blonde head came into view.

"Why hello Lucinda!" said Priscilla delightedly.

"Priscilla…" Hermione replied slightly less enthusiastically. Truth be told, she didn't really like her…she reminded her too much of Pansy.

"What a coincidence that we're living so close to each other!" Priscilla gushed.

"Priscilla?" said Draco as he joined his 'wife' at the door.

"Oscar! Isn't it marvellous that we're neighbours for the trip?" Priscilla beamed.

"It's absolutely fabulous." Draco replied dryly. Priscilla didn't seem to catch the hint of sarcasm in his answer. She continued to chatter but Draco cut her off.

"Sorry Priscilla, but my wife and I were just about to go and take a walk. We'll see you later."

And with that he took Hermione's arm and marched her off down the corridor before Priscilla could react.

"That woman!" he burst out as soon as they were out of listening range.

"She's not that bad…I'll bet Pansy's worse than her." Hermione reasoned.

"Pansy can be decent when she wants to be - but that woman, she doesn't know when to stop! She's beautiful though, I'll grant you that." Draco muttered.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Hermione replied with a smirk.

"Shut up." Draco shot back playfully.

Then he took her arm and they proceeded to explore the ship together.

--

**A/N: **well that was a very fast and boring chapter! But its just an introduction to their shipmates and the ship itself…so yeah sorry if there's not many interesting bits in this chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.

To my lovely reviewers:

**Shimmering Evil, marauderbabe289, vote-larry4prez, Lady Mariel, pure-undead-pyra, ILoveOrli-27, Lady-Delphinea, who cares? **

Thank you all so much for your positive reviews!

**Meg: **About Snape…you'll find out where he finds them next chapter ok? Thanks heaps for your continued support!

**Heatherbug:** What was it that you didn't understand in the second chapter? And the story's not going to be over when they get back to Hogwarts, so don't worry! Hope this update was fast enough for you to keep your hair! Thanks for your great review!


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Severus Snape was feeling slightly disoriented when he ended up in Paris, in the September of 1788. He was dressed very peculiarly for the time, but no one noticed as he had appeared in a dark alley of the French Wizarding Quarter. He quietly walked out to one of the clothes shops in the Quarter and bought himself a suit so that he didn't look as conspicuous in the crowd.

After that was accomplished, Snape decided to go where the Headmaster had advised he try first to look for Draco - the Malfoy chateau.

-

Meanwhile, on board the Lady Madeline, Draco and Hermione were really quite enjoying themselves at dinner. They had made friends with several other young couples apart from the Griffiths and the men were becoming quite rowdy as the night went on due to the copious amount of alcohol they had consumed.

After the dinner, the women and the men split up and went to their respective parlours to chat and play cards.

"So how did you meet Oscar, Lucinda?" asked a girl named Meagan curiously.

"Well…its really quite a long story." she said.

"We'd like to hear it, wouldn't we girls?" Meagan replied with a grin. The rest of the women nodded in agreement. Hermione sighed a little, but obliged them.

"We've known each other since we were eleven years old…" she started off.

"Was he always this charming and good looking?" interrupted another girl called Susan dreamily.

Hermione was starting to feel a little annoyed with this group of girls - they obviously thought that Draco was attractive and that thought made her feel protective of him…because he was her 'husband' and he also happened to be the boy that she liked. She was starting to feel a little bit irritable because of the company and also because of the little bit of alcohol she had consumed.

"No he was scrawny and obnoxious for a very long time." snapped Hermione in response. The girls raised their eyebrows at her in disbelief.

"So when did he become so attractive?" asked another familiar voice. Hermione turned around and saw Priscilla Griffith walking towards her, joining in on the Draco discussion.

"Good evening, Priscilla." Hermione greeted. Draco was right - that woman was insufferable.

"You haven't answered my question, Lucinda." Priscilla said sweetly.

"Uh, well I've forgotten what it was." Hermione answered curtly.

"She asked when did he become so attractive." Meagan quipped helpfully. Hermione groaned inwardly. She was getting sick of discussing Draco with these women - they had their own husbands…why couldn't they discuss them instead!

"I've always been very attractive actually." drawled Draco's voice from the entrance to the parlour. Some of the women squeaked in surprise at the object of their discussion who was walking slowly towards his wife.

"Oscar." Hermione said a bit breathlessly. She was so relieved that he was here - it meant the end of the girls' discussion about him. When Draco reached her, he kissed her lightly on the cheek and whispered -

"Its getting late, we should get going." Hermione nodded and smiled at him, sneaking a look at the rest of the women who were giving her what could only be described as glares of envy.

"Good night everyone, sleep well." Hermione said sweetly to the group.

Then with her arm looped through Draco's, they exited the parlour elegantly.

"So what did the girls say about me?" asked Draco with a lopsided smile - Hermione could smell a hint of whisky on his breath.

"How much have you had to drink?" Hermione replied, looking at him in concern.

"Don't worry - not nearly enough to make me dizzy…this Muggle liquor is nothing compared to Giant wine." Draco answered, patting Hermione's hand in what was meant to be a reassuring way, but the affect was ruined by Draco hiccuping.

"Fine. But just don't complain about being hung over tomorrow morning." Hermione replied in a stern voice.

"Just lighten up, Hermione. Live a little." Draco said, his words slightly slurred.

"Ok so you _are _drunk." Hermione concluded, seeing him stagger - his usual catlike grace gone from his strut.

He rolled his eyes at her but allowed her to use herself to support him. They walked slowly and a little bit unevenly back to their room - Hermione saw passers-by giving them slightly disapproving looks because of Draco's tipsiness but she ignored them, and also tried to ignore how Draco's arm was slung across her shoulders and how strangely warm and tingly that area felt…

"Are you really that relieved to be back?" Draco asked sceptically, when Hermione let out a small cheer as they entered their room. He leant on the bedpost when Hermione let go off him, in order to support himself.

"Yes! Its such hard work to support you - you're so incredibly heavy! Besides, its not just that - pretending to be someone that you're not for a whole day is tiring." Hermione replied, flopping down onto the bed, flashing him a grin.

"I'm not _that _heavy am I!" Draco said indignantly. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine. Sorry - thanks for helping me walk back to the room, darrrling." he said politely, waving his arms out, offering her a hug.

"You're welcome." She replied, ignoring his outstretched arms.

"Fine. Don't accept my hug." he muttered, pretending to be upset.

Hermione wasn't sure whether he was being serious or not, but she didn't really want to have anymore physical contact with him - god knows what might happen…alcohol can do strange things to people's minds…

"Anyway, back to what you originally said - I'm actually enjoying pretending to be this Oscar fellow. I mean everyone assumes that we're adults because we're married and doing business, which means as much alcohol as we want." Draco said with a grin.

"Draco, don't abuse your luck." Hermione mumbled from the bed.

"I can do whatever the hell I want with my luck." He replied.

Draco then moved over to where Hermione lay on the bed and sat down next to her. Absently he played with her chocolate brown hair as he kept talking.

"Its pretty fun pretending to be married to me isn't it?" he smirked.

Hermione wondered if he really was drunk - he had had a lot to drink tonight and he was probably not thinking straight - which probably explained why he was _stroking _her hair and tearing her nerves to shreds in the process. But on the other hand, he was making very sober comments about her…it just didn't fit in.

"What are you talking about!" Hermione exclaimed, her hand coming up to stop his from doing anything more to her hair.

"Well, I know you must be enjoying it because you're not putting up a fight every time I touch you now." Draco said nonchalantly, catching her hand in his.

"Wha-no, wait a minute -" Hermione spluttered.

"Don't say that you're only doing it for other people's benefit…" Draco murmured, his eyes meeting hers.

"Maybe this whole thing isn't only for show anymore…" He continued, his eyes now searching hers and for a moment Hermione was sure that he was most definitely _not _drunk because he had such an all-knowing look on his face.

She was like a rabbit caught in the headlights again.

Completely tongue-tied.

Unable to formulate a coherent comeback to his half-drunken remark.

"I don't know what you're talking about…" Hermione said breathlessly, as he drew closer to her.

"You might not know, but I do." he replied, placing his arms on either side of her - effectively pinning her down on the bed.

And in that split second, she knew that he knew, but she could do nothing about it because Draco's lips were on hers.

It was a slow, unhurried, intense kiss - and Hermione had never been kissed that way before. It felt so incredible, and so surreal …she wasn't even sure he was sober. But Hermione tried to put that thought to the back of her mind and let herself enjoy the feeling of his soft lips caressing hers.

When he pulled away, Hermione looked up at him, trying to figure out whether he was sober or not.

"Draco…" Hermione started off quietly.

"Hm?" he replied, lying down next to her.

"What was that for?" she asked seriously.

"Nothing. I just wanted to shut you up." he answered, his words slightly slurred again.

Hermione propped herself up on her elbows and gave him a long, piercing look. He seemed unaffected by it - he even had the audacity to laugh.

"What are you doing Hermione? I mean I know I'm devilishly good-looking, but really must you stare?" he asked, sounding sober again.

"Argh. I give up." Hermione grumbled to herself, and got off the bed, stalking to the bathroom.

-

Draco watched her go. To tell you the truth, he didn't know what had possessed him to kiss her - maybe it was the Muggle liquor, maybe it was because she looked so beautiful lying there on _their_ bed, or maybe it was a combination of the both.

All he knew was that it had made things so much more complicated between them.

He knew she was wondering whether he had kissed her out of drunkenness, and right about now he was wishing that he had because it would've been so much simpler if he had - because he wouldn't be able to remember feeling her soft lips responding to his, and how great it had been to kiss her. He honestly didn't remember ever kissing a girl slowly like that before - it had always been a fiery quick joining of the lips.

He really wasn't that tipsy at all when he had kissed her - his mind had been quite clear in what it intended him to do, but it didn't make the situation any better. He had resolved _not _to allow his feelings get in the way of their friendship, but judging by the way Hermione had responded to his kiss…he wasn't so sure anymore.

He didn't want to hurt her, and he didn't want to lose her, both of which would inevitably happen if they had a relationship. So there was really one thing he could do - pretend that the kiss had never happened. It was the best way out of this.

Draco rolled over in the bed - his head was throbbing and it was all because of Hermione. And a bit of the Muggle liquor of course. He was still thinking about the kiss when he drifted off to a fitful sleep.

He didn't see Hermione step out of the bathroom, with her dried tears on her cheeks.

-

**A/N:** Argh! That was such a horrible chapter to write! I mean it was good, because Draco and Hermione kissed, but there's so much angst about it! Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed it anyway.

First: thanks soooo much to my lovely reviewers:

**ILoveOrli-27 **- Yeah the Griffiths are supposed to be nosy and suspicious. They're just those characters that you're supposed to hate cos they're just so annoying. Thanks for your reviews!

**Shimmering Evil **- thanks for your continued support!

**Vote-larry4prez **- thanks for your reviews!

**Meg** - Well, Snape hasn't found them yet (sorry) but he will either next chapter, or the chappie after that, just stay tuned ok? Thanks for your continued support again!

**MioneAndMalfoy** - hahaha glad to see you like the plot. Yeah, I love hr/d fics because they're just such a good couple. Anyways, thanks for your review!

**Chalindra** - thanks for your positive review! Hope you liked the chapter.

**Zoey-lou **- glad you like the story, and hope you like the new chapter

**Foxeran** - yay! I'm glad that you like how I've kept the characters in character - I just hate fics that make Hermione and Draco completely OOC - its just so unbelievable. Thanks for your review!

**who cares? **- hi again! Hope you like the new chapter.

**Lady-Delphinea **- hey! Wow what a positive review! It really makes me feel happy to hear such good feedback - thanks so much for your continued support!

**Heather bug **- glad to hear your hairs ok! Well hopefully you like this new chapter! Thanks for your review.

**ILUVCANDY** - Thanks for your review…and in response to your question no I haven't thought about writing a Snape and Hermione fic because I don't like Snape very much…I prefer the younger characters I guess. But I do like Sirius and Lupin. Anyways, hope you liked the new chapter.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

Hermione woke up the next morning, her head still throbbing from the night before. She felt Draco's arm slung over her waist and immediately felt a great wave of bitterness roll over her. Why did it have to be like this? Why did he have to kiss her? Why did he have to not mean it?

She could feel hot, burning tears making their way up to her eyes again and she tried to hard to keep them back. She wouldn't waste anymore tears on this asshole. She had convinced herself that he wasn't worth it if he couldn't even be sober for their first (and probably last) kiss.

She resisted the impulse to push his arm away, and tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn't - the memories of last night were so fresh in her mind…especially since Draco was still lying next to her in the bed. She couldn't help but marvel at her bad luck - not only did she have to like her worst enemy, but she had to like him in a 'more than just friends' way _and _share a drunken kiss with him, which he obviously didn't mean, and would have no memory of when he woke up this morning.

But damn, she had been so _sure _that he was sober…that look that he had given her just before he had kissed her…it wasn't a look of a drunk boy. It was a look of a boy who had just figured out something…

"Hermione? Are you awake?" Draco breathed into her ear softly.

She jumped.

"Uh- yeah…" she stammered, not wanting to look at him.

"Had a good sleep?" he asked lazily, as though he hadn't a care in the world.

"Yes. Are you hung over?" she ground out in response.

"A little." he replied with a grin that she could hear in his voice. There was a silence as Hermione stubbornly refused to respond to him or turn around to face him.

"What's wrong?" asked Draco after awhile, "Why wont you turn around to look at me?"

"I would, but your arm is restricting my movement." she replied dryly.

"My arm? Oh…sorry." Draco lifted his arm from her waist.

But she still didn't turn over - in fact, she got up off the bed. Draco's hand shot out instinctively to grab her arm to stop her from leaving.

"Hermione. Talk to me - what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

She turned around to look at him. Her eyes were like brown embers, burning fiercely with a sort of disgust, frustration and anger. But when she spoke, her voice was steady and normal.

"Nothing. Everything's fine."

"Are you sure?" Draco pressed, his eyes searching hers, just like he had done last night…

"Actually, just out of interest, do you remember anything from last night?" she asked quietly.

He seemed taken aback. Her eyes held his in a cool gaze, she seemed unaffected, indifferent to his response.

"I - no…I don't remember. Something about a room full of annoying young women and that's about it." he answered thoughtfully with a small grin, "Why? Did we do something that -"

"No. Of course we didn't. Would you let go of my arm now?" Hermione asked sullenly.

"Uh, yeah ok…sorry." he apologised softly, watching her stalk to the bathroom, and shut the door behind her.

"Shit. What have I done?" Draco muttered to himself.

-

Snape had arrived at Malfoy Chateau. He didn't bat an eye at the opulence and grandness of the estate - he was used to seeing evidence of the Malfoy family's wealth. Now the problem was how to ask about Draco without arousing any suspicion. He stood on the very wide doorstep and hesitated before he knocked sharply three times.

Almost instantly, a butler answered the door.

"Bonjour, Monsieur. How can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Is a Mr. Julien Draco Malfoy living here at present?" asked Snape, giving the man a stern look. The butler hesitated, and then excused himself, asking Snape to wait. Several minutes later, a young man appeared at the door. He looked remarkably like Blaise Zabini.

"Monsieur, my name is Xavier Malfoy and I am Julien's brother. He is not here at the moment. What is it that you want to discuss with him?" asked the man haughtily.

"Mr. Malfoy, my name is Severus Snape and I am a Professor at a very prestigious school in England. Julien has been accepted into our school, and -" explained Snape before he was rudely cut off.

"Monsieur Snape, I'm afraid that I can not help you. Julien is not living with us anymore and we are unsure where is he now so I am unable to pass on your message." said Xavier flatly.

"Oh. I see…how long has he been away?" asked Snape anxiously.

"Only three days." answered Xavier.

"So is there any way that I can find him? This is a very rare offer, and I'm sure Julien would like to be informed of it." Snape persisted.

Xavier looked like he was about to yell at him for being so annoying, but then his face softened, and Snape could almost see a light switching on in his head.

"Actually Monsieur…there is a way…" he said slowly.

"Yes?"

"Come in Monsieur, and I'll tell you about my idea…"

-

Hermione was glaring at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red and her expression was glum. She felt so stupid - she had been such an idiot to cling onto that small sliver of hope that Draco was sober when he had kissed her. But she had heard it straight from his own mouth - he had absolutely no memory of it.

But still, she couldn't blame him for something that he didn't even know that he had done. And maybe, just maybe he had done it subconsciously or something…maybe he did have feelings for her too.

Feeling slightly less angry, Hermione cleaned up her face and did her hair up. Then she went back into the room, only to find that Draco wasn't there anymore. He had left her a note though, scrawled in his beautiful elegant handwriting-

'Sorry for whatever I did to upset you. Hope you're feeling better by the time you've read this. I've just gone out for a walk, I'll meet you at the dining hall for lunch. Draco.'

Well he really wasn't too bad, thought Hermione to herself, allowing herself a small smile. She quickly got changed into a beige coloured corset-less dress and glanced her the clock on the mahogany table. It read 12.45 pm which meant she had 15 minutes to get to the dining hall. Luckily it was only about 5 minutes away at most. She had plenty of time so she decided to look around the ship for Draco, so that they could enter the dining hall together.

She had been walking around for about three minutes when she heard his voice from around a corner. She was about to go and greet him when she heard another sickeningly familiar voice reply to him.

"Oh I know…Thomas is like that too. Dreadfully boring." Priscilla Griffith purred.

Hermione cautiously poked her head around the corner to confirm whether it really was that horrible woman and Draco talking. It was, of course. Now what the hell was she doing with Draco!

"So, tell me about your wife." Priscilla continued, placing a hand suggestively on his arm. Draco gave her a look, and then shrugged. Priscilla smiled knowingly, and moved closer still.

"You don't want to talk about her? Or is she so boring that she doesn't even be deserved to be talked about?" she asked nastily.

Draco looked like he was about to reply, but no one would ever know what he would've said because at that moment Priscilla Griffith had latched herself onto him and was kissing him fiercely.

Hermione felt the familiar sting of burning tears as they rushed up to the surface and poured down her cheeks. She couldn't believe this was happening…just when she had gotten over _their _kiss last night. He even looked like he was enjoying the kiss, that asshole! He found her insufferable and yet he was allowing her to kiss him. Why? Hermione would never understand.

"You bastard." Hermione spat coldly at Draco, coming around the corner to stand in plain view of him.

He let go of Priscilla in surprise and was looking at Hermione with wide, somewhat panicked eyes, while the Priscilla glanced coolly in her direction.

"Oh, speak of the devil, its your wife, Oscar." she sneered. He gave her a glare, and then pushed her away roughly, moving towards Hermione.

"Herm-Lucinda…" he said softly.

"Stay away from me." Hermione bit out from between clenched teeth.

"Its not -"

"I don't want to hear it." she cut him off icily, then she turned to Priscilla, "And you, you should be ashamed of yourself. Going behind your husband's back and stealing other people's husbands instead."

"Well I wouldn't say 'husbands' since its only yours that caught my eye." Priscilla retorted.

"Good for you then. You two suit each other perfectly - you're both backstabbing bitches." And with that, Hermione spun on her heel and stormed off.

"Hermione!" Draco yelled, hurrying after her.

"Oscar, you heard the girl, she doesn't want you anymore!" Priscilla shrieked after him, but he pretended not to hear her and ran off after Hermione.

He reached her soon and caught her arm.

"Hermione. Listen to me please." he pleaded.

"Let go of my arm, Malfoy." she answered indifferently.

"No! Not until you listen!" he responded angrily, "It wasn't what it looked like! She just kissed me out of the blue! I didn't want to -"

"Oh, yeah you sure looked like you were in pain when she was kissing you." Hermione shot back at him sarcastically.

"I'm being honest here!" Draco spluttered indignantly.

"Well then why didn't you try to push her away?" asked Hermione coolly. His silence said more than any words could have. Feeling even more bitterness, mixed in with jealously within herself, Hermione slapped him hard across the face.

Still he was silent, but his eyes were showed how pained he was, and they were pleading with her to forgive him.

But she couldn't.

How could she? He was _supposed _to be her husband, and even though he technically wasn't really, he should've at least acted like he was. He had been doing a very good job, until just then. And it hurt her, because he was such a liar - he had spent so much time telling her how annoying Priscilla was, and how much he hated her…and yet…

And god she was so jealous of Priscilla. Draco was right last night, this whole husband and wife thing between them wasn't just for show anymore. It was for real - she really did like him and he…well Hermione didn't know how he felt about her.

But she couldn't forgive him just like that. She had felt like someone had hit her over the head with a broomstick as she watched Priscilla kiss Draco like he was all hers. God. How long had this been going on? They had only been aboard the ship for two days…but there were plenty of times where she wasn't with Draco…and…

"Please Hermione." he whispered, clutching her arm tighter.

"Why do you care what I think about you anyway? This whole thing between me and you is only for show isn't it?" Hermione said silkily, giving him a look.

"That's not -"

"Look Malfoy, whatever you may think that we've become in the past few days as a result of this, its nothing. There is _nothing _between us. We're just two enemies, forced to be together by some cruel twist of fate. You don't have to explain to me why you two were kissing because -" said Hermione resolutely, while tears were running down her face.

"Because you don't care?" asked Draco softly.

"Yeah. I don't care what you do with other girls." she replied just as softly.

"Then why did you act so angry when you saw us together?" he asked quietly, searching her eyes. She hesitated before she answered firmly.

"I - I was just playing my part."

"Oh. Yeah, right…of course." Draco looked like he had just been hit in the gut.

"And I thought that you had changed. But I guess I was wrong." she added quietly, glimpsing Draco's hurt expression as she turned to go back to their room. He didn't follow her.

-

**A/N: **Ugh! Angst, angst and more angst! Another truly horrible chapter to write…will those two kids ever sort it out? Lol, anyways hope you guys enjoyed that anyway - GOOD NEWS - I've got an idea of how to continue the story. Because before I had no idea what I was going to do after the ship but now I have a plot! Yay! So stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thanks to my fabulous reviewers, you guys rock! Keep the reviews coming please…or will I be forced to threaten you guys again by not posting until I get enough reviews? Hopefully not. Thanks for reading the story everyone!

Special thanks to those who DID review this week: **PR chick, Chalindra, ****xOxOkIsSmYaSsXoXo, who cares, ****Lady-Delphinea****, TheConductorsLEASTfavorite, Monday Mornings, Hgbookworm, vote-larry4prez, Shimmering Evil**


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

Hermione lay on the bed, thinking, wondering whether she had done the right thing saying all those things to Draco. He hadn't followed her back to the room, and thankfully hadn't come back for the whole afternoon. She watched as the sun set, the beautiful blood-red-orange rays sparkling off the sea, thinking about what had happened.

She had so blatantly thrown his attempted explanation back in his face, and practically told him that she didn't care and that there was nothing between them…but really, who was she kidding? If she didn't care and he didn't care then why were they trying to explain their actions to each other?

But Hermione knew that there wasn't any future with them together in it. They could still be as chummy as they were before the incident, but once they got back to Hogwarts, they could never be together, not even as friends. Perhaps the way everything had worked out was for the better.

This way, she could try and forget about him and with reason too - he had gone and kissed another girl. And he…well he could deal with it in his own way. Hermione closed her eyes and pictured his face, with its fallen beauty and silver hair and eyes and willed herself to forget about him after this was all over.

Suddenly a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

She approached the door apprehensively - was it Draco? If it was, what was she going to say to him? 'Stay away from me?'

She opened the door and standing on the other side was the one person she never wanted to see again.

"Hello Marie."

Hermione screamed.

It was Xavier Malfoy.

Draco stood on the deck, leaning on the railing, watching the same sunset as Hermione was, though neither realised it. He did however, notice the women bustling past him, some of them occasionally stopping and whispering behind their hands. Draco guessed that Priscilla had told everyone about what had happened.

He sighed.

He wished that none of this had happened. And by that, he meant that he wished that he had never been transported back in time to France with Hermione. Before life had been so easy, so simple - he hated her and the rest of the Dream Team and they hated him too. End of story. But now…god…it was so complicated.

He didn't know what they were anymore. They had been through it all - from enemies, to acquaintances, to tentative friends, to something a little more than just that…and now they had just gone backwards. She had told him that everything between them was nothing. Nothing? How could she say that?

But he didn't know what he felt towards her anymore. He felt the chemistry between them and he _was _attracted to her, but that aside, did he actually _like _her?

Draco didn't know.

And he didn't know why he hadn't pushed Priscilla away when she had started kissing him. Perhaps it was because he felt that he needed get rid of his frustration from upsetting Hermione about their kiss from last night. He hadn't intended to hurt Hermione, he really didn't…but he could see that he had, no matter how much she tried to cover it up.

Damnit. He felt so guilty now. It was such an unfamiliar emotion to Draco…Malfoys didn't feel guilt. But then again, Malfoys weren't ever sorry either, and he had just proved that wrong when he had apologised to Hermione this morning. Argh. Maybe he should go back to their room, just to check up on her. Besides, they needed to talk…hopefully she had calmed down enough to let him explain.

He walked slowly back to their room, trying to delay the moment of confrontation for as long as he could. Then he knocked quietly on the door. For a split second he thought that she was refusing to let him in, but then the door opened.

"What in the bloody hell are _you _doing here!" asked Draco in complete shock upon seeing Xavier Malfoy answer the door.

"I'm here to claim my property." Xavier replied silkily, shutting the door in Draco's face, but Draco saw it coming, and jammed his leg into the opening to prevent the door from fully closing.

"I thought that I made it clear back at the chateau that you don't deserve her." Draco spat at Xavier.

"Well if I am not good enough for her, then you cant be either. I've always been the better one of us, Julien. You know that." Xavier shot back venomously.

Draco had nothing to say to that. He knew that he didn't deserve Hermione - but that didn't make Xavier a better man.

"Where is she?" demanded Draco, trying to push past his brother.

"On the bed." Xavier replied smugly. Draco grabbed him roughly by the collar.

"What did you do to her?" Draco hissed frantically.

"Nothing. She is a witch - I want nothing to do with her." Xavier replied angrily.

"Then what are you doing here? And how did you find us?" asked Draco suspiciously.

"I have my ways of finding you, Julien. That man at the travel office was most co-operative. You made quite an impression on him, showing off your wealth to him…he remembered exactly which ship you were on." responded Xavier haughtily.

"That still doesn't answer the question. You couldn't have caught up to us by ship - we were two days ahead of you!" Draco exclaimed.

"That's where you come in, Julien. I really must thank you for applying in that magical academy in England - if it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been able arrive here so quickly." Xavier smirked.

"What?"

"Come forward, Professor. This is my brother Julien." Xavier said, looking to the side of the room and motioning for someone to come to the door.

A moment later, the face of the man that Draco had so desperately wanted to see for the past few weeks appeared.

"Professor Snape?" Draco gasped.

"Hello Julien." Snape said stiffly. Then without warning, he turned and pointed his wand at Xavier and Stunned him.

As he crumpled to the floor, Snape pulled Draco into the room and shut the door firmly behind him. Draco cast a glance around the room, and found that Hermione was indeed tied to the bed and gagged too.

"Draco, we do not have much time. We must get back to Hogwarts as soon as possible - untie Miss Granger quickly, and I'll explain everything later." Snape ordered roughly in a low voice.

Draco nodded mutely, and went to where Hermione lay on the bed. Her eyes were watery, and she looked to be in pain. He quickly undid the knots, and gently untied the gag from her mouth, all the while avoiding eye contact with her. This was not the time for their feelings to get in the way of escape.

"Come over here now." Snape said quietly, and they silently obeyed him. He held out what looked like a silver Time Turner and looped the chain over all three of them. He adjusted the Time Turner to the right time and then both Hermione and Draco felt an odd, Portkey-like sensation of a hook behind their navels pulling them through time…

Dumbledore was reading the Daily Prophet when suddenly, three familiar faces appeared in his office from thin air. He surveyed them calmly from behind his half-moon glasses.

"Ah. Welcome back Mr. Malfoy and Miss Granger." he said softly with a smile, "Come, sit down."

They each took a seat, while Snape hovered near the fireplace.

"I assume that Professor Snape hasn't explained to you about everything?" Dumbledore stated quietly.

"No, he didn't have time to." Hermione agreed.

"Well, firstly, do you know why you two were transported back in time as well as to France?" asked Dumbledore.

"It was because Ron added the murkwood before the belladonna essence." Hermione answered quietly.

"Correct Miss Granger. Murkwood is also used in time travel potions." Snape affirmed.

"Thank you Severus. Professor Snape has been very worried about both of you since the accident - so much so that he enlisted the help of your friends in finding out where in time you were." Dumbledore explained, while Snape grimaced.

"How exactly did you find us, Professor?" asked Draco curiously.

"After finding out what year you were both in, I used the Time Placer and hurried to the Malfoy Chateau to find you." Snape answered, holding out the silver Time Placer to demonstrate his point.

"Hadn't we already left the chateau by the time you had gotten there, Professor?" asked Draco.

"Yes, but your kindly brother had uses for me…more specifically he had uses for my magic. He ordered me to Apparate with him to the ship that you were aboard." Snape answered.

"But he couldn't do any magic, so how did he Apparate with you?" Draco persisted.

"I had prepared a potion that has effects similar to Apparating just in case either you or Miss Granger needed it to escape, and so I gave him a bit." Snape replied.

"Professor, why couldn't Xavier do magic? The Malfoys are purebloods, yet when he found out that I was a witch, he was completely shocked." Hermione said worriedly.

"I presume that his father was a Squib, and didn't tell his family about his magical roots. He was also most likely disowned from the family." Snape answered thoughtfully.

"Then why were they living the Malfoy chateau? If they had been disowned -" Hermione continued.

"Because by that time, the other pureblood Malfoys had moved to England already." Snape snapped at Hermione.

"Ahem. I think that most of your questions have been answered, am I correct?" Dumbledore asked serenely.

"Yes, Professor." they both answered.

"Are you ready to go back to your lives?" he asked quietly. They both hesitated and then nodded.

"Well first, I understand that you have both missed out on a month's worth of school work and that it will be quite difficult for you to catch up. So we have assigned you both student tutors. Mr. Malfoy, you will be tutored by Parvati Patil and Miss Granger, you will be tutored by Blaise Zabini." Dumbledore informed them.

"What? Professor, I think that you have mixed up the tutors' names. Surely my tutor is Blaise, not Parvati." Draco spluttered.

"No, I have not, Draco. I have decided that more inter-House unity is needed, and I have assigned you tutors accordingly." Dumbledore replied calmly with a small smile.

"Oh."

"Draco, I would've thought that you would be more tolerant of Gryffindors now, considering you have spent one whole month with Miss Granger." Dumbledore remarked, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

At this comment, both Hermione and Draco flushed slightly, but refused to look at each other and remained silent.

"Well, lets get you both settled back in shall we? Don't look so nervous, nothing's changed since you've been gone." Dumbledore reassured them kindly as he led them out of his office with Snape trailing behind.

"If you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me." Dumbledore said, and then he disappeared back into his office.

"You two wait here, I'll go and get Professor McGonagall." Snape muttered, stalking off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower.

For a few moments, Draco and Hermione stood in silence, neither wanting to look at each other. They still hadn't spoken to each other directly since Hermione had found him kissing Priscilla. It felt so long ago to both of them already but really, it had only been half a day ago.

Hermione felt tired. She was worn out from the time travel and even though the burden had been lifted from her, and she was finally back at Hogwarts, she still had one last obstacle to overcome - Draco.

"So is this how its going to end?" asked Draco suddenly, breaking the ice.

"I guess." Hermione answered, glancing at him. He seemed cold and removed again now that he was back at Hogwarts.

On the surface, it seemed as though nothing had changed between them, but when you looked more closely, you saw how Draco was clenching his fists so tightly that they were turning white, and Hermione was biting on her lower lip.

"Hermione, I want to apologise for what happened with Priscilla." Draco said softly.

"You already have. I told you, it doesn't matter to me. And…please don't call me Hermione anymore." she answered tensely.

Draco frowned.

She really wasn't making it any easier for him to be nice to her. And god knows when the next time they talked to each other like this would be. He really didn't want it all to end like this. Even if they couldn't be friends at Hogwarts anymore, at least they could remember their little adventure together fondly if they ended it more amicably.

"Fine. Granger, I don't want it to end like this. Please -"

"Please what, Malfoy? Please, lets be friends? Malfoy, we _can't _be friends. Don't you understand?" Hermione exclaimed.

"I know we cant be friends, but -"

"But what? There are no buts. We're back at Hogwarts, and now we have nothing to do with each other anymore. Lets just go back to the way we were. Lets pretend this never happened." Hermione said firmly, looking him straight in the eye.

"What? Pretend this never happened? Geez Granger, I thought you were smarter than that. You know that its not the same between us anymore, I don't hate you anymore and I'm pretty sure you don't hate me, so why act like you do?" Draco shot back angrily.

"That's where you're wrong, Malfoy. I'm not acting." Hermione murmured. Draco's face fell for a split second, but then he recovered.

"Ok. If that's the way you want it to be, Granger. Don't say I never offered." Draco drawled.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort but was cut off by Professor McGonagall.

"Miss Granger! Oh, I'm so glad that you're back!" she greeted warmly.

"Hello Professor McGonagall." Hermione answered mildly.

"Its been an absolute nightmare trying to find a proper Head Girl replacement for the past month - we've been through Pansy Parkinson, Hannah Abbott, Lavender Brown, Parvati _and _Padma Patil, and now we've just got Millicent Bulstrode!" McGonagall exclaimed.

"Millicent!" Hermione and Draco burst out in disgust.

"I'm afraid so. Now Miss Granger, I shall escort you back to your dormitory and Professor Snape will do the same with you, Mr. Malfoy. Welcome back to Hogwarts, we've missed you both." she said cordially, patting Hermione on the shoulder fondly.

"See you around, Granger." Draco said quietly, as he turned to walk away with Snape.

"Bye Malfoy." Hermione answered softly, watching them go.

"Are you alright, Hermione?" asked McGonagall concernedly.

"I'm fine thanks, Professor." Hermione replied.

But as she walked back towards Gryffindor Tower, back to towards her life, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had just made a big mistake.

A/N: There you have it - the big homecoming chapter! It really wasn't that much of a big deal I guess, but damn its so sad how it all ended eh? Well hope you guys all enjoyed that and thanks a million for your great reviews!

**Special Thanks to my lovely reviewers: Prchick, starlight-heart, Monday Mornings, Hali (for your THREE reviews wow!) Lady-Delphinea, Merurikku, The ConductorsLEASTfavorite, Gone-Goonie, Redrose013, Hgbookworm, Fairy Secrets, Chalindra. **

**broken flower: **you're right! I'm so sorry, I really did get the eras mixed up, the ship that I've been describing would've been a 1900's ocean liner, like Titanic. I don't know, but about the plumbing, I'm not too sure about that. I did a little bit of research into that, but it didn't really turn up much results, so just assume that the bathroom is a room with a tub, but no plumbing, just a jug of water or something ok? Thanks for your review and alerting me to my mistake!


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

Harry, Ron and Blaise were all sitting in the Head Common room waiting for their long lost friends to arrive. Professor McGonagall had told them of the good news, and they were all feeling very giddy and excited to finally see their friends again.

"Do you reckon they've changed much?" asked Ron thoughtfully.

"I hope not…what if they're like all friendly towards each other now? You know you cant spend a month together with a person and _not _be civil to each other." Blaise answered slowly.

"Oh god. You don't think that Malfoy and Hermione are actually _friends_ now do you!" Harry spluttered.

"I don't see why not. I mean we are kind of friends now aren't we Potter?" Blaise pointed out with a small grin.

"Yeah well we were forced to become friends weren't we Zabini?" Harry retorted playfully.

It was true, the loss of their close friends had resulted in an unlikely friendship between Blaise Zabini and Ron and Harry. But truthfully, none of them regretted it because they had found that once they sorted out their differences (there weren't too many…Blaise didn't hate them nearly as much as Malfoy did) they actually had a lot in common - namely Quidditch and wizard's chess.

"Oh cmon Harry, give the poor bloke a break. He's really not too bad." Ron quipped with a chuckle.

"You're giving me way too much credit. I am still a Slytherin after all." Blaise said airily.

"Yeah true. But at least you're not as bad as Malfoy." Ron persisted stubbornly.

"Ah Draco…now that he's back, I guess everything's going to go back to normal. I mean he will definitely have a heart attack if he finds out that the three of us have become friends since he's been gone - I mean honestly, his best friend hanging out with his worst enemy? What a nightmare!" Blaise laughed lightly, but Harry and Ron could sense that he kind of meant it.

"So you're just going to leave us? Just like that?" Harry gasped, mock-hurt.

"After all we've been through together?" Ron added feigning heartache.

"I suppose. I mean its been great actually getting to know you two but…" said Blaise quietly.

"Its ok mate, we understand." Ron reassured him. Harry nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry about it. We didn't really think that we could've kept this whole secret friendship thing going for much longer anyway. Maybe its better this way." Harry reflected thoughtfully.

It was at that moment that Hermione stepped into the Common Room, still wearing a peach coloured dress from the 18th Century.

"HERMIONE!" Both Ron and Harry jumped up and raced to their long lost friend and hugged her so tightly that she couldn't breathe.

"Oh my god guys, I've missed you both so much!" she replied.

"How are you!" asked Ron excitedly.

"Nice dress by the way, Hermione." Harry said slyly, checking her out.

"Shut up Harry." she responded playfully. Then her eyes swept across the Head Common room and found Blaise Zabini lounging languidly in one of the armchairs.

"Welcome back, Granger." he drawled lazily, his eyes holding hers in a cool gaze.

Hermione choked for a moment. He resembled Xavier so uncannily that they could be identical twins. But the difference was in their voices - Xavier's was polished, haughty and accented. Blaise's was less polished, more sly and had no trace of an accent.

"Hi B-Blaise…what are you doing here?" Hermione stammered in response.

"Waiting for Draco. Where is he?" he responded.

"I think he's back at the Slytherin Common room." she answered.

"Alright, I'll be going then. See you around." Blaise said, and exited the Common room.

"What was he doing here?" Hermione asked when he had gone.

"He…er…"

"Well Hermione, you see…"

"What?" she demanded.

"Well since you and Malfoy have been gone, the three of us have been kind of lonely, so we kind of became temporary friends. I mean we had to spend a lot of time together in the library researching French family trees to find where in time you guys were…so…" Harry explained quietly.

"Do you mind?" Ron asked.

"Uh…well…he doesn't seem so bad I guess." Hermione answered diplomatically.

"He isn't, trust me. He's heaps better than Malfoy." Harry reassured her.

"That reminds me, did Malfoy try anything on you while you were in France?" asked Ron worriedly.

"He - no, he didn't dare. Why would he want anything with a Mudblood?" Hermione replied in what she hoped was a nonchalant voice.

"Don't call yourself that, Hermione." Ron said quietly. Hermione grimaced.

"Yeah, anyways fill me in on what's been happening since I've been gone." she said.

"Don't change the topic. Are you sure Malfoy didn't do anything to you?" Harry asked firmly, searching her eyes.

"God. What is wrong with you two? _Nothing _happened! We got sent back in time, we were forced to live together for a month and then Snape found us and took us back. End of story." she snapped.

"What happened during that month?" asked Ron suspiciously.

"Nothing that you should be worried about! If you must know, I was betrothed to his brother, so he couldn't try anything even if he wanted. We just spent the whole time throwing insults at each other." Hermione said stubbornly.

"Alright. Fine, we believe you." Ron said, a tad uncertainly.

"Ok. Now tell me about what's been happening." Hermione said nicely.

"Uh well…" Ron started, but then stopped, "Why don't you go first, Harry?"

"What? Um…nothing much has really happened here since you've been gone. You know, everyone's basically the same, except for the ever-changing Head Girl replacements." He grinned.

"Yeah I know about that already - god, they must be desperate if they've got Millicent Bulstrode now." she said lightly, and Harry and Ron both forced out laughter.

"Yeah so you know how Harry's Head Boy, and there have been sooo many different Head Girls living here with him throughout the month…" Ron trailed off.

"Ok…you're making me suspicious. What happened?" asked Hermione.

"Well, living at such close quarters with certain people, things are bound to happen…" Harry said nervously.

"Who did you sleep with Harry!" Hermione asked surprisedly.

"I- what! No I didn't sleep with anyone. I've just, you know, got a girlfriend." he answered tentatively.

"Oh. Who is it?" Hermione asked lightly.

"Padma Patil." Harry answered meekly.

"Oh. Well…she's clever. And pretty. Congratulations Harry." she said half-heartedly.

"Thanks. And er, Ron's got a girlfriend too…" Harry said, and Ron stomped on his foot in anger.

"Harry!" he said angrily.

"Geez, you would have to tell her some time or another." Harry reasoned.

"Fine. I'm going out with Parvarti." Ron said quietly.

"What! Oh for god's sake. You got identical girlfriends! That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I disappear for a month and you two go and make friends with Slytherins, and get yourself identical girlfriends. God." Hermione fumed, and then stormed off to the Head Girl's room.

"You've got to understand Hermione that because you were gone, we needed some girls to fill in the space that you had left behind!" Harry shouted from the other side of the closed door. She didn't answer.

"God. What's her problem?" Ron asked with a roll of his eyes.

"I think something _did _happen between her and Malfoy." Harry said.

"Yeah I didn't believe her either." Ron agreed.

"I think that that's what's making her all snappy. We should give her some time alone." Harry said.

So they left the Common room in search of their identical girlfriends.

Draco stepped back into the Slytherin Common Room and found himself surrounded by his housemates who let out a huge cheer when he arrived.

"Oh Draco! We were so worried about you!" Pansy Parkinson simpered, pushing her way through the crowd towards him.

"You shouldn't have been. You know I know how to take care of myself." He answered lazily.

"The House was lost without you." a sixth year called Mandy Nylan said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Thanks Mandy. I'm sure that wasn't true." he said with a grin.

"Draco! Tell us about your adventure." a boy called Malcolm Baddock said.

"There's really not too much to talk about, it was rather uneventful and boring." Draco said.

"Did you really have to spend a whole month with that Mudblood Granger?" asked Pansy, her eyes wide.

"Yeah, actually I did." he replied.

"Oh! That stupid girl! I'm so jealous!" Pansy declared.

"You shouldn't be. I treated her horribly, trust me Pans, you wouldn't have wanted to be in her position." Draco drawled, knowing that he was only half-lying.

"Oh. That's good then." Pansy said with a smile.

"Anyways, if you will all excuse me. I need to get some rest." He strode to his dormitory and shut the door.

"WELCOME BACK DRACO!" the rest of his housemates chorused as the door closed.

Draco lay on his bed, alone in his private room. He stared up at the top of his four-poster bed and thought about the events of the whole last month. It really had been quite an experience…a very eye-opening experience.

He wasn't sure if he regretted being sent back in time with Hermione or not - on one hand he had gotten to know her, and realised that she really wasn't such a bad person, but on the other he had found himself with feelings for her that certainly weren't there while they had been at Hogwarts together.

He knew that she had been hurt by seeing Priscilla kissing him, and he knew that she had feelings for him too. He had known since they had boarded the ship and that night, god that awesome night that they had shared a kiss…he wouldn't be able to forget it. Ever. There was just something so dangerous, so alluring about kissing your enemy…well, former enemy at least.

But then he had to go and ruin it by pretending that he was drunk. What would've happened if he hadn't acted drunk? What if he had admitted to kissing her? Would something else have happened? Would they have acknowledged their growing attraction to one another and would…

No. He couldn't think about that anymore. It was all in the past now. Hermione had made it very clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him now that they were back at Hogwarts. Damn her for that. He had actually been fighting with himself over whether or not to stay friends (or something more…) with her once they were back, and his heart had won over his mind and he had decided that he didn't want to lose her, but in the end it wasn't even up to him. Just a few words from her and they were over.

She wanted him to forget about what had happened during the past month, but how could he do that? How could she do that? It was just one of those experiences that you just don't forget. They basically lived together for almost a month and they hadn't spent the whole time at each others' throats trying to outsmart one another or anything like that…they had been friends and damn it, it had been amazing. He had never been able to talk to a girl like that ever before - like an equal, and no girl had ever talked to him without the intention of sucking up to him.

And -

His thoughts were interrupted by a quiet knock on the door.

"Come in." he said wearily. A raven-haired boy poked his head around the door. Blaise.

"Good to see you, Draco." he said with a wink.

"Yeah. What's up?" asked Draco bluntly.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to see you. I mean you have been gone for a month." Blaise replied just as bluntly.

"Well I'm fine. I don't really feel like talking at the moment." Draco said brusquely.

"Ok. I'll talk to you later then." Blaise said, turning to go.

"Wait, Blaise why weren't you there in the Common room when I came back?" asked Draco suspiciously.

"Where I was is none of your business, Draco." Blaise replied defiantly

"Don't come back. I don't want to talk to you later." Draco muttered as Blaise was going to shut the door behind him. He wasn't sure if the other boy had heard him, but he hoped that he had. Seeing Blaise brought back memories of Xavier…and Xavier definitely wasn't a good memory to remember.

He knew that he was being harsh to his best friend but there was just something so disconcertingly Xavier-like about the way that Blaise behaved that made him angry at his friend. The memory of what Xavier had almost done to Hermione was still fresh in his mind, and he wasn't sure how long it would take for him to differentiate between Blaise and Xavier, but he knew that until then, he shouldn't talk to him.

Draco knew that he had imposed this isolation on himself, but at the moment lying on the bed by himself in his dark room - he felt alone. Very alone.

**A/N: **Another chapter finished, hehe I guess I scared you all with the last chappie eh? How could I end the story like that! Don't worry guys, there's still much more to come on Through The Ages! So stay tuned!

**THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS! **Wow, so many reviews…I was so happy! And we passed the 160 mark! Thanks to the 160th reviewer **GryffindorGirl14!**

**EosRaven: **Sorry about the Priscilla kissing Draco thing, I didn't like writing it, but I had to, to create complications. Thanks for your review!

**Curlygntx: **Yes, Hermione will still be Head Girl. Thanks for your review!

Thanks to all my other reviewers who thought I was ending the story (hehe) :

**Lady-Delphinea, Shimmering Evil, Hali, Kace08, Monday Mornings, Flavagurl, HgBookworm, marieerin, brittnee, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, raisa, vote-larry4prez, TheConductorsLEASTFavorite, Chalindra, taralynetteC, BluesSword16.**


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Chapter Seventeen**

Hermione woke up groggily the next morning and padded to the bathroom. She washed her face and looked at herself in the mirror. Even after a month in the past, she really hadn't changed much - she just had darker eye circles. She brushed her hair quickly, and walked back into her room and changed into the school uniform. She wasn't looking forward to school today because she was afraid that she would see Draco and plus, Ron and Harry were probably not talking to her because of her little outburst last night.

She sighed, and pulled her black school robes on and strode out into the Common room. To her surprise both Ron and Harry were sitting there, looking sober.

"Morning, Hermione." They greeted her.

"Good morning." She replied.

"Look, we're sorry about yesterday. We don't know exactly why you blew up at us, but we hope that we're still friends." Harry said sombrely.

"Oh thank god. Of course we're still friends!" Hermione responded, throwing her arms around both the boys.

"Do you forgive us?" asked Ron.

"Yes. I am so sorry about yesterday. I guess I was just worn out from all that time travel." Hermione said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it. Cmon, lets go. You don't want to miss your first breakfast back do you?" asked Ron.

"Of course not. I've missed having proper English food." Hermione agreed, flashing him a grin.

Then the three of them walked down to the Great Hall for breakfast, laughing and joking the whole way.

Draco's eyes darkened as he saw them enter the Great Hall. He sat brooding at the Slytherin table, which was the furthest away from the Gryffindors. He hadn't really said much to anyone since last night, and the House mostly respected his self-imposed isolation. They understood that he needed time to readjust, but they found it strange that Draco, the Slytherin Prince, didn't want to be the centre of attention anymore.

"Morning Draco." said Blaise, sitting down next to him. Draco smiled tightly in response.

Blaise followed his line of vision and saw that Draco was staring moodily at Granger, Potter and Weasley. He smirked slowly to himself, Draco really hadn't changed. He still seemed to hate the Dream Team as much as he used to. Blaise found it strange that he and Granger were acting as though they hadn't just spent a month together - they still remained as icy and removed from each other as ever.

The two of them sat eating in silence until Draco abruptly stood up and muttered something about forgetting his books in his room. Then he strode briskly out of the Great Hall.

"Fine. Just leave me. I don't mind." Blaise mumbled to himself sarcastically.

What the hell was wrong with Draco? He had been nothing but rude ever since he had come back. He had refused to talk to him last night, and didn't seem to have the inclination of ever talking to him again. Geez, it wasn't as though he had done anything wrong since he had been gone (apart from hanging out with Potter and Weasley…but Draco didn't know that), so why was he so angry at him?

He watched as the Wonder Trio got up to leave for classes, and he quickly shovelled down the last of his breakfast and walked quickly to catch up with them.

"Oh cmon Harry, you don't need to see Padma every moment of the day." Hermione whined.

"Look its not fair to her if we're both sitting in the Great Hall and I _don't _go and talk to her. She is my girlfriend after all." Harry reasoned.

"Hermione, he's right. It's mean if he ignores her." Ron agreed.

"But we'll be late to class." Hermione tried.

"This will only take a few seconds." Harry promised, slipping away already.

"What! Oh honestly, Harry." Hermione exclaimed.

"Actually, Hermione would you mind if I go and say good morning to _my _girlfriend?" Ron asked with an apologetic smile.

"Ugh. Go ahead Ron. I'll see you both in Transfiguration." Hermione sighed, watching as both of her best friends left her.

She walked out into the foyer and was about to go up the stairs when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. For a wild moment she thought that it was Draco, and she whirled around, prepared to face him.

"Look Malfoy, I thought I told you -" she snapped, before realising that it wasn't Draco at all.

"What did you tell Malfoy?" asked Blaise Zabini with a smirk.

"Nothing. What do you want, Blaise?" Hermione asked shortly.

"I was just wondering whether Dumbledore has told you about -"

"I know. You're my tutor right?" Hermione cut him off.

"Yeah. So I think that we should set a time and place. I'll try and make this as painless for you as possible." He smirked again.

"Library after dinner?" Hermione suggested.

"Ok. I'll meet you there. We'll start with Transfiguration." Blaise said, and then he was gone.

Hermione watched him go, her heart rate increasing as she realised just how much he looked like Xavier. No, she told herself, calm down you idiot, he's_ not _Xavier. Blaise seemed quite harmless, even if he was a Slytherin, he was much more civil to her than Draco had been before and well, Harry and Ron seemed to like him enough.

She was still thinking about this as she made her way to the Transfiguration classroom, so she didn't notice Draco's eyes watching her from the staircase above.

The day passed in a blur for Hermione, and she thankfully didn't have any classes with the Slytherins. She didn't know how would she be able to act around Draco for a whole lesson…it was still so strange between them.

She walked briskly to the library and waited outside for Blaise after dinner. The minutes dragged past, and still he didn't show up. Where was he? She sighed, and then got out the Transfiguration book and sat down in the corridor, reading the textbook.

Another half hour passed before a shadow appeared above her, and she looked up to find Blaise staring at her with a stony expression on his face.

"Sorry Granger." he muttered.

"Um, don't worry about it. Why are you so late?" she asked quietly.

"I just am." he snapped at her, reminding her so forcefully of Xavier.

Hermione backed away a little, until her back rested on the cold wall behind. She tried not to look him in the eye - he was breathing heavily and seemed very angry.

"Oh no, don't tell me _you're _refusing to look at me too." He spat furiously.

"What? No, I'm not -"

"Oh yeah? What's wrong with you both? You go back into the past and you come back and treat me like some sort of monster." Blaise snarled irately.

"What? Is this about Draco?" Hermione asked quietly.

"It bloody well is! He's been acting like a jackass ever since he's gotten back. What the hell happened to you two in the past? Does he have brain damage or something? He's not _Draco _anymore. What did you do with him, Granger!" Blaise burst out, gripping Hermione's shoulders tightly and shaking her.

"Stop it Blaise!" Hermione shrieked.

"Tell me. What the hell did you do to him?" he hissed.

"Let go of me!" she screamed, trying to push him away.

"Tell me Granger!" he yelled back at her.

"If I tell you, will you let go of me?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"Yes." Blaise replied.

"Ok it's a bit of a long story…" Hermione started off uncertainly.

"Just tell me." he said.

"When we went back in time, Draco had a brother. His name was Xavier and he looked a lot like you." Hermione explained.

"And? So what if he looked like me?" Blaise pressed.

"Well he kind of did some…bad things to me." Hermione finished quietly.

"Oh. Is that it? I'm sorry to hear that." Blaise relaxed, and let go of her. Hermione stood uncertainly, trying to distance herself from him.

"Sorry, Granger. I didn't mean to get angry at you like that…its just that this whole thing with Draco is really pissing me off. He refuses to speak to me. Why is he taking it so seriously? I'm not this Xavier guy, and its not like he ever did anything horrible to _him _in particular right?" Blaise reasoned.

"Right." Hermione agreed with a small smile.

"So he has no reason to be acting like this." Blaise said, half to himself.

"Yeah…are you alright Blaise?" Hermione asked quietly.

"No, not really." He admitted.

"Do you want to go inside and sit down?" she asked him.

"I don't think it's a good idea to go to the library now, Madam Pince would kill us for coming in so late." He replied. Then he looked around and decided to just sit down where he was.

"Lets just sit here for now." He said.

"Sure." Hermione replied, sitting down next to him, her textbook abandoned.

"Can you tell me honestly whether anything happened between you and Draco? Because if something didn't happen between you two, I don't know how else to explain why he's acting so strange." Blaise said softly, a complete contrast to what he was like before.

"Nothing happened…" Hermione said, very unconvincingly.

"Granger. Don't worry, I'm a Slytherin and I can keep a secret." He reassured her. She smiled, but didn't say anything.

"Look Granger, what's said here tonight, stays here. I wont ever repeat anything that you say to anyone…its just that I need to know why he's acting like this. He's my best friend, and I don't want to lose him." Blaise cajoled.

Hermione looked into his clear blue eyes and saw his earnestness and she relented.

"Ok. Something did happen, but I'm not sure whether he meant it or not." Hermione said slowly.

"Did he kiss you?" Blaise asked.

"Yes. But I think he was drunk…" Hermione admitted.

"Oh. Why?"

"Because he didn't have any memory of it, and because he went and made out with another girl the day after." Hermione still felt betrayed even remembering the whole incident with Priscilla.

"Wow. That's harsh, even for Draco." Blaise remarked lightly, giving her a sympathetic smile.

"Did you have feelings for him?" he asked quietly.

"I- I don't know. I thought I did…but I'm not so sure anymore. Its just that I spent a whole month with him, and he was so different to what he was like to me at Hogwarts…I thought that he had changed or something. But…" She trailed off.

"Don't worry about him. Trust me, he has changed, but I'm not sure whether its for better or for worse." Blaise sighed.

"Maybe you should try to talk to him." Hermione suggested.

"I've already tried. He doesn't want to talk to me. Maybe _you _should talk to him." Blaise shot back.

Hermione squirmed uncomfortably at the thought of confronting Draco about Blaise.

"Do you want me to?" she asked gingerly.

"Yes. I think that it would help." Blaise answered.

"I'll, you know, think about it." Hermione said diplomatically.

"Ok. Thanks in advance then." Blaise said, flashing her a grin.

Hermione found herself feeling bad for ever thinking that Blaise was like Xavier. He was totally different, he was down-to-earth, easy to talk to and not too arrogant when he wasn't with Draco. Hermione had never known much about him - he seemed to fade into the background when he was with Draco because all attentions would be on the blond boy rather than his raven-haired best friend.

He was really quite good-looking, not in Draco's silvery sharp kind of way, but a more conventional way - straight nose, nice features, beautiful clear blue eyes and that inky black hair that was like Harry's only better cut and better managed. His frame was tall and lithe, the body of a Quidditch player.

"Sorry again, Granger. This wasn't much of a Transfiguration lesson was it?" Blaise commented with a sardonic smile.

"No, but it was good to finally talk about what happened with Draco to someone. I couldn't tell Ron and Harry because, you know, they would kill me." Hermione confessed.

"Its strange, but I think that it was good that you two left, because it allowed you two to get to know each other, and it meant that I got to know Harry and Ron too. We all used to be enemies, but now…I'm not sure anymore. Well I'm guessing Draco still hates Harry's guts but that cant be helped." Blaise remarked.

"Nothing like a bit of inter-House unity." Hermione joked.

"Yeah. So Granger, I think I should make it up to you for making you waste your time here tonight. Are you free on Saturday morning?" Blaise asked.

"Yes I am, but isn't that the day of your Quidditch match against Ravenclaw?" Hermione responded.

"Yeah, but we don't do much before the match anyway. It'll only take an hour or so." Blaise answered.

"Alright then, if you're sure. So I'll meet you at the library after breakfast on Saturday?" Hermione suggested.

"Sure. See you there then. Good night." He replied, and he got up, offering her a hand to help her up. He gave her one last smile and then strode off in the direction of the Slytherin dungeons.

**A/N: **Wow guys! 180 reviews! i'm soooo happy! Thanks sooo much to everyone who reviewed - its very very appreciated by the author. Ok special thanks to my 180th reviewer **Beautiful Synthetic**!

And here's to all my other lovely reviewers: BlueSword16, vote-larry4prez, DemonSorceress, Chalindra, TheConductorsLEASTfavorite, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, Brittnee, curlyqntx, raisa, Kace08, HgBookworm, Gone-Goonie, ShimmeringEvil, Lady-Delphinea, kKrEiLsLtYa.

Sorry if I scared you by making you think that I was ending the story!


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Chapter Eighteen**

Draco was dreaming. He was still aboard the Lady Madeleine in the year 1788 and taking a walk around the ship. It was the day after he had kissed Hermione and she had gotten so angry at him over it when he wouldn't admit that he had been sober and he felt so bad about it all.

He strode over to the railing and stood there silently, watching the waves lapping at the side of the ship. Suddenly he felt a presence at his side and he turned, expecting to see Hermione.

"Finally decided to join me?" He drawled. The voice that answered him wasn't one that he was expecting.

"I didn't know that you felt that way about me, Oscar." Priscilla purred in response.

"Priscilla?" Draco said, surprised.

"The one and only." She replied with a sly smile.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I was looking for you. I heard you leave your cabin, but I didn't see where you had gone…I wanted to talk to you." Priscilla answered.

"You wanted to talk to me?" Draco repeated, taken aback.

"Yes. I want to know whether you love your wife." She said silkily.

"I…I'm not sure." Draco replied shakily.

"You're not sure? Oscar, if you are not sure that you love her, then why are you married?" Priscilla asked.

"I, well I guess I didn't have much choice." Draco answered, realising how true it was.

"Ah. Was it an arranged marriage then?" she asked.

"No! No…it wasn't anything like that. Its just that she was the best one out of all the girls presented to me, that's all." Draco lied.

"Oh? What of the other girls then? Tell me about them." Priscilla whispered, sliding closer to him. Draco gulped.

"Uh, well there was one that looked like a pug. Her name was Pansy and she had absolutely no personality." Draco said.

"Oh I know…Thomas is like that too. Dreadfully boring." Priscilla purred. Draco felt like slapping her for saying that about her husband. He remained rudely silent and Priscilla noticed, but prattled on.

"So, tell me about your wife." Priscilla continued, placing a hand suggestively on his arm. Draco gave her a look, and then shrugged. Priscilla smiled knowingly, and moved closer still.

"You don't want to talk about her? Or is she so boring that she doesn't even deserve to be talked about?" she asked nastily.

Draco was about to blow up at her. That bitch had no idea about _anything! _How dare she assume that just because he didn't feel like talking about her at the moment that he didn't at least respect her enough to not talk about her behind her back!

He opened his mouth to verbally abuse her, but found that she had latched onto him and was kissing him fiercely…

Suddenly a loud tap-tap-tap jerked him awake from his nightmare that wasn't really a nightmare.

"What the hell is that noise?" Draco muttered underneath his breath.

He squinted and realised that it was the sound of an owl pecking at his skylight. He grumbled slightly, but got up and opened the latch on the skylight that he was so proud of owning. A charmed skylight was the ultimate privilege in the Slytherin dormitories because they were located underground in the dungeons and so any letters delivered by owls had to wait until breakfast in the Great Hall where they could be dropped off to their recipients, but with a skylight, you could receive letters at anytime.

He thanked his father for paying extra for his private room with the skylight when he realised who the letter was from. He took the letter that had his name scrawled on it in Hermione's careful handwriting from the snowy owl that had brought it. As it flew off, he realised that she had borrowed Saint Potter's owl.

He held the letter in his hand, not wanting to open it because he was afraid of what it might say. He let his imagination run wild for a few moments, wondering why she was writing to him at such an early hour - perhaps she had changed her mind, or maybe she realised that they had this undeniable chemistry together and they should do something about it or -

"Stop it." he mumbled to himself. He couldn't do this to himself again - getting his hopes up for a moment and then watching helplessly as they got shattered into a thousand pieces a moment later.

He gripped the letter hard, and tore it open savagely, ready to take whatever she wanted to throw at him.

_Draco,_

_Could you meet me at the Quidditch field in half an hour? I think that we need to talk._

_H.G. _

He felt himself losing his balance and fell onto his bed, feeling completely shocked and having no idea how to react. This was _not _what he was expecting. It was what hewanted to hear, but now that it was there on paper in front of him, he had no idea what he was going to do.

What was he _supposed_ to do anyway?

It wasn't like he was going to go and tell her exactly how he felt about her. If he did, he was sure that she was just going to throw it right back in his face.

No. She probably wanted to talk to him because she didn't want him to hate her. Yes! That was it! She was such a goody-goody that she didn't want _anyone _to hate her and she knew that he was angry at her for having the last word about how everything was going to end between them and -

Draco wasn't so sure he wanted to go anymore. He wasn't ready to face her again…especially when she was in her little 'everyone lets be friends' mode. He had offered his friendship to her once, and she should know that with Draco Malfoy, one chance is all that you get.

But it was _Hermione._ How could he pass up an opportunity like this? He had been aching to talk to her, to ask her to think about it - they _could _make it work if they tried hard enough. They didn't even have to be anything, they could just be friends…it was enough for him.

He just couldn't forget about her and it was killing him inside.

He had spent the last few days tormented by memories of the month that they had spent together and tortured to see her so happy and unaffected in comparison when she was with Potter and Weasel.

He just couldn't stand the fact that she was _glad _to be back at Hogwarts.

This place had been an absolute hell for him since he had been back - he had had to deal with Blaise everyday, trying to be friends with him again and not thinking that maybe, just maybe Draco didn't _want _to talk to him anymore. He had to deal with all the rest of the Slytherins muttering about him whenever he left the common room to seek solace in his own room _and _he had to deal with seeing Hermione every bloody day and not being able to go anywhere near her.

God damn it, she had ruined him. He wasn't Draco Malfoy anymore. The old Draco would never even think like this - never even worry about a Mudblood. Now look at him. He was pathetic. Where was his arrogance? Where was his confidence and where the hell was his trademark pride?

He had spent the last few days acting like a bloody lovesick puppy for god's sake. Over Hermione Granger out of all people. He really needed to get a hold on himself. Get a reality check or something - they could _never _become anything - she was right. He was dreaming of something that will never happen and -

He glanced at the clock.

He had exactly one minute left to make up his mind whether he was going to go and talk to her or not. He also had one minute left to figure out whether or not he was going to pursue this delusional dream of him and Hermione being together. He could either go back to being Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince or he could stay Draco Malfoy, pathetic adolescent yearning for the Head Girl.

No matter how true the last part was, he couldn't allow himself to stay that way. If he was going to get her, he was going to get her the way he had gotten all his other girls - through pure Malfoy charm, not wannabe Gryffindor bravery crap that had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

Yes. He was going to and talk to her with his head held high and his trademark smirk back in place. He wasn't going to let her see what she had done to him.

He glanced at the clock again. He was late, but he didn't care. He wanted to make an entrance that she wouldn't forget.

Hermione was early. She sat in the stands, holding a mug of steaming hot chocolate that she had made herself. The air was chilly, but felt fresh and Hermione welcomed it - it woke her up a little more. She pulled her cloak closer to herself after she finished off the hot chocolate to try and keep herself warm.

She glanced at her watch. It had been more than half an hour ago that she had sent that letter to Draco with Hedwig. Surely he would've read it by now. Hermione sat huddled for another twenty minutes before realising that he wasn't coming.

She sighed.

She had hoped that this wouldn't happen. She had realised how harsh she had been to him after they had gotten back to Hogwarts - they definitely hadn't parted on the best terms. And despite outward appearances, she really wanted to talk to him again. She missed him even after what he had done to hurt her back in the past. She missed being able to talk to him whenever she felt like it and being able to have decent conversations with him. That month she had spent with him had really opened her eyes to what he could be like, and made her believe that maybe, just maybe, Draco Malfoy wasn't as bad as he showed himself to be.

Sure, he had gone and kissed another girl, but the more Hermione thought about it, the more she realised that they had never admitted to each other anything about their feelings. They had just been pretending to be married and in love…technically what he did had nothing to do with her because they weren't _really _in love or married so technically she had no right to be angry with him over it no matter how much she liked him.

And maybe she had overreacted to it a little. He had apologised for kissing Priscilla, even though he didn't really have to explain himself to her and to be honest, she hadn't really given him much of a chance to do that because she had just stormed off after she had found them and she hadn't spoken to him about it since.

When Blaise had told her to talk to Draco for him, she had felt panicked. She wasn't ready to talk to him again after all that had happened because she was afraid that he would be angry at her and he would just be the arrogant jerk he had always been to her again. But as she thought about the idea more, she realised that she was being an idiot. It was her own fault that they weren't friends.

They could've been though- he had offered but she was being so pig-headed and worried about what Harry and Ron would think if they did become friends that she didn't realise that she was sacrificing her own interests just to keep Harry and Ron happy. If they were truly her friends, then they shouldn't care if she became friends with Draco - it was inevitable after spending a month together. After all, they had become friends with Blaise…right?

Hermione got up to leave and was almost at the exit of the stands when she found her way blocked by a certain tall, expensively attired boy with silvery blond hair.

"Hello Granger." he said quietly.

"Draco." Hermione responded a tad breathlessly-she was surprised to see that he had actually come.

"I hope you don't mind that I'm late." He drawled.

"No, I'm just glad that you actually came." She replied with a small smile.

He raised his eyebrow in response.

"I wasn't aware that you found me so impolite that I would actually _decline _your kind invitation. Honestly, Granger after all we've been through, I thought that you knew me better than that." Draco smirked.

Hermione allowed herself to study him for a moment. He was so perfect - he had gorgeous features, alabaster skin, that silky silver blond hair and his expensive clothes that looked like they had been made to show off his toned body.

"Hello? Granger? Finished staring yet?" he smirked yet again.

"I wasn't staring." Hermione answered firmly.

He seemed so unaffected by all this. Hermione was so surprised, she had thought that he was completely broken up on the inside about how everything had ended between them and that _that _was why he was being so slack to Blaise. But it wasn't that. He was acting so normal that she was starting to have second thoughts about whether Blaise was lying to her about him.

"So, why did you wake me up at such an ungodly hour? What is so important that it couldn't wait until breakfast?" Draco asked.

"Well…there's two things that I want to talk to you about. Firstly, I want to know why you are being such an asshole to Blaise." Hermione answered.

"Ok Granger. About your question - why do you care how I treat Blaise?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"I - well he's my tutor and he kind of came to the tutoring lesson very upset by how you were treating him yesterday so I just wanted to know why you were treating him like that." Hermione answered.

"Your concern is very touching Granger. But surely you can figure out the answer to that yourself." Draco drawled nonchalantly.

"So it _is _about Xavier?" Hermione asked.

"Yes it is. I mean come on, I'm sure _you _can see the similarities between them. Every time I look at him I get shivers down my spine because they are so alike…and just thinking about what Xavier's done makes me really wonder about Blaise. He's not as harmless as he seems, Granger." Draco replied.

"How can you say that about your best friend!" Hermione exclaimed, "He's so upset over how you're treating him and you're trying to turn me against him! Blaise is _not _Xavier! Draco, you've got to understand that they're two completely different people on the inside, regardless of how much they resemble one another. Why cant you just let it all be in the past!"

"Because its not as simple as you think, Granger! You think everything is all rainbows and daisies but its not! There are bad people out there, and you just don't understand that not everything can be solved by just 'talking to each other'." Draco shot back.

"Well then what has Blaise done that makes him so dangerous?" Hermione asked defiantly.

"I can't tell you, Granger." Draco replied.

She glared at him and stopped talking.

"Ok. What was the second thing you wanted to talk about?" Draco prompted.

"I don't want to talk to you." Hermione spat out.

"Oh c'mon Granger. Stop being immature, just tell me." Draco whined.

"No."

Draco glared right back at her and started to walk off.

"Fine. I wanted to know if your offer of friendship was still open." Hermione muttered.

"What?" Draco said, taken aback.

"I said it already. Its your fault if you didn't hear." Hermione responded childishly.

"Ok let me get this straight. You want a second chance?" Draco asked with an incredulous expression.

"I-well basically yes." Hermione answered quietly, feeling humiliated as Draco laughed.

"Alright Granger. Here I'll strike a deal with you. I'll be civil to Blaise again if you'll come with me to the next Hogsmeade weekend." Draco replied with a straight face.

"Are you serious?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Dead serious." Draco answered.

"But…this is a win-win situation for me." Hermione spluttered.

"I'm feeling generous." Draco replied coolly, "So what do you say, Granger."

"What do you think?" Hermione answered.

"I'd say yes. Am I right?" he replied. Hermione nodded and Draco smirked in response.

"So is that all you wanted to talk about, Granger?"

"Yeah…sorry for waking you up so early, its just that -"

"Don't worry about it." Draco reassured her.

"I'm glad that we've sorted things out." she admitted.

"I knew that you didn't want things to end the way that they did." Draco smirked smugly.

"I'm really sorry about that…I guess I was worried about what Harry and Ron would think." Hermione said softly.

"Don't worry about it. Anyway, I should go now. I'll see you around." Draco answered with a small smile.

"Good luck for your Quidditch game." Hermione said.

"Thanks." Draco replied, and then he left.

As Hermione watched his retreating figure and felt a smile making its way onto her face, she realised that she had done the right thing this time.

**A/N:** OMG! That was the worst chapter ever to write. I hope the characters aren't too OOC for you…I'm just trying to show both sides of the story and how coming back to school has affected both of them. I know people are finding the whole Blaise and Hermione thing very strange because she opened up to him so quickly but if you think about it - she's had nobody to talk to about her feelings and what's happened between them and its been driving her crazy. Blaise just happened to be the first person she's talked to since she's come back who doesn't hate Draco and doesn't really hate her either. Hope that's kind of cleared that up for you guys and hope you guys liked that chapter!

THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL MY REVIEWERS:

**Kace08, Lady Delphinea, Chalindra, taralynetteC, kKrEiLtYa, ShimmeringEvil, HgBookworm, MondayMornings, BlueSword16, Sila-chan, TheConductorsLEASTfavorite, amandasue06, phoenixtamer150, The Lady of the 4leafed clover, rachelle, Gone-Goonie, TsuirakuMitsukai, merurikku. **


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Chapter Nineteen**

Hermione sneezed as she entered the Great Hall for breakfast after her talk with Malfoy. She was still sniffing a little as she sat down next to Ron and Harry who were busy shovelling down their food as usual.

"Good morning guys." Hermione greeted them with a slightly nasal voice.

"Hi Hermy. Are you sick?" asked Ron, using the nickname that she hated the most.

"Don't call me that, Ron!" she exclaimed, playfully swatting his arm.

"Fine I wont. Well? Are you sick?" he asked again.

"I might've caught a cold." Hermione admitted.

"From what?" Harry asked.

"Oh…I went for a walk this morning and you know, it was a bit chilly and all." Hermione lied smoothly.

"So that's why you weren't there when I knocked on your door this morning! I was worried about you because I was scared that Malfoy had kidnapped you or something." Harry said with a grin. Hermione forced a weak smile in response.

"Sorry, I should've left a note but I guess I forgot." she said.

"That's alright, just tell me next time ok?" Harry answered. Hermione nodded and Harry noticed that her eyes flicked subconsciously to the Slytherin table.

"Anyway, I should go and meet Blaise now for my tutoring lesson." Hermione said, grabbing two bread rolls and walking off, "See you guys at the Quidditch game."

"What's wrong with her now?" asked Ron.

"I have no idea, but I'm sure its not good." Harry replied, gazing after her quizzically.

Hermione was waiting outside the library once again, munching on her breakfast and thumbing through her textbook when Blaise arrived. She looked up and smiled when she saw him.

"You're on time." she said mock-surprisedly as they walked into the library and found a free table at the back.

"Of course I am. Zabinis are _always _on time." Blaise replied with a fake smirk.

"Oh right, I guess you don't remember our last tutoring lesson?" Hermione pointed out.

"Fine. Let me rephrase - Zabinis are always on time when they're not having arguments with Malfoys." he said with a sad smile.

"Hey, about that…" Hermione started off.

"Did you talk to him?" Blaise asked.

"Yeah I did, this morning actually." she replied.

"I guess that explains why he wasn't at breakfast and why you're still holding onto yours." Blaise said, pointing to her half-eaten bread roll.

"Yeah, I had better eat this before Madame Pince finds it and throws me out of the library." Hermione said sheepishly, putting the whole thing into her mouth and immediately regretting it as Blaise cracked up laughing.

"God, Granger…you're such a boy." He commented jokingly.

"Mmmph" Hermione spluttered indignantly with her mouth full.

"I guess that shouldn't came as a surprise considering you're best friends with Potter and Weasley." he continued on teasingly.

"Shut up! Do you want to know how the talk went or what?" Hermione threatened Blaise who sobered up straight away.

"Yes I do, m'am." he drawled with a straight face.

"Ok…well I think he's back to normal now." Hermione said with a smile.

"Really? Wow, how'd you pull that one off Granger?" asked Blaise curiously.

"I - erm…made a deal with him." she said quietly.

"Ooh what kind of deal?" he prompted with a sly smile.

"Not the kind of deal _you're _thinking, you dirty Slytherin!" Hermione replied shrilly, earning herself a disapproving glare from Madame Pince.

"Well I cant think of what other kind of deal Draco would agree to." Blaise said truthfully.

"Well like you said, Draco has changed since he's been back…so maybe this one of his changes." Hermione said naively.

"Oh Granger, you've got so much to learn about him. You know, no matter how much you think that he's changed, he's still a Malfoy and a Slytherin on the inside and that's one fact that even _you_ cant change." Blaise said suddenly, moving closer to her. She gulped and moved a little bit away again - he was scaring her.

"What are you trying to say, Blaise?" asked Hermione quietly.

"Nothing. I just think that you shouldn't get too close to him - you'll regret it later." He replied darkly.

There was an awkward silence after that and Hermione stared determinedly at her book while Blaise stared just as determinedly at her - making her feel very uncomfortable. After awhile, Hermione decided to break the ice.

"So, what exactly did I miss in Transfiguration?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing much. We've basically been working on changing animals into their baby forms you know, a sheep into a lamb, a frog into a tadpole etc. Oh, and we've also started researching about Animagi." Blaise answered nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's alright then. I already did some research about Animagi back in third year and I practised changing my cat Crookshanks into a kitten at the beginning of the year before I got sent back with Draco…" Hermione trailed off, feeling Blaise's eyes on her again.

"Look, Granger are you trying to say that you don't need a tutor?" Blaise asked bluntly.

"No! I'm just saying that I'm not as behind as I thought." Hermione answered quickly.

"Well it seems to me as though you're hinting that you don't need me to help you catch up since you're sooo far ahead of the rest of us anyway." Blaise continued.

"That's _not _what I mean Blaise and you know it! I want you to be my tutor ok? I appreciate that you're giving up your free time to help me." Hermione said softly. Blaise hesitated before answering.

"Ok then Granger. That's all I needed to hear." he said.

"So are we alright now?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Yeah. I think that we should finish up now - there's no point teaching you about Transfiguration since you already know it. I should go and talk to Draco before the match anyway…so I'll see you later." He said getting up to leave.

"When's the next tutoring session?" Hermione asked.

"Next Thursday night, same time same place." He replied, walking away already.

"Good luck for your game!" she called out after him.

"Thanks for talking to him for me, Granger." He turned around and called back to her and then, he was gone.

Hermione had just found Ron sitting with Parvati in the stands and she scrambled over several disgruntled people to get to the seat that they had saved for her.

"Sorry I'm late guys." She apologised, sitting down next to Ron.

"Don't worry about it. How was Blaise?" asked Ron.

"A bit strange actually, but he's alright now I guess." Hermione replied.

" I meant how the tutoring session was, not how he was." Ron clarified, giving her a strange look.

"Um yeah. It was very unproductive - turns out I knew all the stuff anyway." Hermione answered with a wry smile.

"Yeah I thought as much - me and Harry were wondering why Dumbledore thought that you needed a tutor at all since you're like sooo far ahead of the rest of us." Ron half-joked, eerily echoing what Blaise had said.

"Well sometimes even the best of us need a bit of help to catch up after missing a few weeks of school." Hermione answered in a clipped voice, making Ron glance at her in surprise.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, Ron." she replied, staring at the Quidditch pitch, where the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams were filing out onto the field.

They stood in two straight lines facing each other and Hermione saw Draco's silver hair glint in the sunlight as he head turned towards where she was sitting in the stands and she thought for a split second that he was smiling at her. Ron followed her line of sight and saw Draco.

"Hermione, are you smiling at Malfoy?" he asked suspiciously.

"What? Err no why would I do that?" Hermione answered a tad nervously. Ron gave her a narrow look.

"Are you sure?" he asked again.

"I'm perfectly certain that I am not smiling at him, Ron. OK?" she said more firmly.

"Ok." Ron responded, still suspicious.

"You know, he might be smiling at Parvati for all you know - she _is_ his tutor after all." Hermione said slyly.

"Ugh! Why did you have to remind me!" Ron groaned, and Parvati gave him a surprised look.

"What's wrong, Ron?" she asked concernedly.

"Hermione's teasing me about how you're Malfoy's tutor." he replied deadpan.

"Hermione! You know how sensitive Ron is about Malfoy, why did you have to remind him? I mean personally, I find him quite charming and I really cant see why -"

"SHUT UP!" Ron bellowed, making everyone around him stare at him in surprise.

"Sorry." He apologised a moment later to a very embarrassed Parvati who slapped him forcefully on the shoulder. Hermione rolled her eyes at their childishness and tried to concentrate on the game. Colin Creevey was the new commentator after Lee Jordan had left the previous year and he was doing quite a dismal job even though he was so eager - so McGonagall had ordered Harry to help him commentate when he wasn't playing in the matches himself.

"Welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year - between Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The game is due to start soon." Harry said cheerfully over the purple magical megaphone.

The crowd erupted in cheers and clapping and supporters of either side started waving their banners around creating a sea of dancing colours.

"The captains are currently shaking hands - Terry Boot, the Seeker for Ravenclaw is captain this year and he's put together a fine team this year, including Padma Patil, Harry's girlfriend -" Colin was cut off as Harry wrestled the megaphone away from him.

"Sorry Harry, I just thought people would like to know that your girlfriend's -" he was cut off again as Harry took over.

"Anyway, the Slytherin captain is Malfoy, and its really quite a surprise that he's been allowed to play considering that he hasn't even been at school for the past few weeks and missed countless training sessions with his own team -" Harry was drowned out with boos from the Slytherin side of the stands.

"So we'll be able to see how good he _really_ is during this match." Harry finished off after the Slytherins had stopped jeering.

"Andddd they're off! Ravenclaw with the Quaffle first, Harry's girl-"

"Colin, just say Patil." Harry growled.

"Ok, Patil with the Quaffle racing towards the hoops and dodging those Bludgers very skilfully and she's about to score and GO PADMA!" Colin yelled as Padma shot the Quaffle through the centre hoop neatly.

"So Ravenclaw is leading ten to none and no sign of the Snitch - Slytherin in possession of the Quaffle, looks like Blaise Zabini is about to score but OH good shot of the Bludger by Ravenclaw Beater to make Zabini drop the Quaffle right into Ravenclaw Chaser Williams arms and now Ravenclaw racing towards the hoops once again and YES they score again putting them in the lead twenty to none." Harry commentated.

The game continued on uneventfully for the next half an hour with Harry getting increasingly irritated by Colin's commentary and the crowd starting to get bored with the monotonous nature of the match.

"So where's the Snitch, Harry?" Colin asked over the megaphone, causing the crowd to snicker tiredly.

"I don't know, Colin. I cant see it from this far." Harry replied annoyed.

"But you _always _find the Snitch!" Colin exclaimed.

"Shut the hell up, Colin." Harry muttered through the megaphone.

"Oh speaking of the devil, it looks like the Snitch has finally been sighted, Terry Boot is going into a dive after it and Malfoy is right on his tail, Malfoy gaining, Malfoy almost level with Boot…WHAT I DON'T BELIEVE IT! MALFOY GOT THE SNITCH! SLYTHERIN WINS THE MATCH 150-20!" Colin screamed out in shock and the rest of the Ravenclaw supporters let out disappointed yells too.

"I cant believe its over so suddenly!" Hermione exclaimed back in the stands.

"I cant believe Slytherin won." Ron said in a wooden voice.

"Aw cheer up, Ron. At least it wasn't against Gryffindor." Parvati tried to comfort him.

"Ugh, now Malfoy's going to gloat about it all the time just because he got the Snitch even after his complete lack of training with his team." Ron muttered under his breath.

"Really, I cant see why all of you are so competitive about Quidditch. Its just a game!" Hermione pointed out.

"It might be just a game to _you, _Hermione but to us - its so much more." Ron said dramatically.

"Oh whatever! I'm going to go and find Harry." Hermione said, walking away from Ron and Parvati.

"What's wrong with her?" asked Parvati.

"That's what I've been wondering all day." Ron sighed.

**A/N: **Well that was a very boring chapter, but essential for plot and character development! Hope you guys enjoyed that! Keep the reviews coming please and of course thanks to my wonderful reviewers:

**Kace08, phoenixtamer150, HgBookworm, hp-paddy, lindylicious, Mandie, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, Monday Mornings, Lady Delphinea, kKrEiLsLtYa, ShimmeringEvil, POTTEROX. **


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Chapter Twenty**

The next few weeks passed in a blur for Hermione. It was a frenzy of homework and tests and she had had barely enough time to breathe and sort her thoughts out. She felt herself drifting further and further away from Ron and Harry (although she shared the Head Dorms with the latter) as all their free time was taken up by their identical girlfriends. Hermione's free time was split between Head Girl duties, homework, extra study and tutoring lessons with Blaise - they had become rather close due to the amount of time they had spent studying together.

She had barely spoken to Draco ever since their little talk except for the occasional muttered 'hi' when Ron and Harry weren't looking. But she had been stealing glances at him every once in awhile during meals in the Great Hall and during lessons they had together and she felt strangely pleased whenever he saw her looking and winked at her.

The Hogsmeade weekend had been drawing ever closer and now she only had two days to figure out whether she was going or not. Hermione had no idea how to break the news to Ron and Harry - they _definitely _would not take the news happily and they would definitely persuade her not to go, but she really wanted to go and just spend time with Draco alone again. She was thinking about this moral dilemma as she strode into the library for her tutoring lesson with Blaise.

She made a beeline straight for the table up the back where they usually sat and she was not surprised when she found it empty - she was about fifteen minutes early for the lesson. She sat down and took out her textbook trying to concentrate but her mind wouldn't let her study - she had to sort out whether or not she was going to Hogsmeade with Draco or not.

She sat glumly thinking about all the different scenarios of how Harry and Ron would react when she told them about her 'date' with Draco when suddenly the boy in question walked up to her table and stood towering above her.

"Hey Granger." he grinned.

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise - what the hell was Draco Malfoy doing in the library! He had made it a point all through first year until now to brag about how he _never _needed to go to the library because his Father would send him whichever books he needed from his infamous home collection so why would he be here now?

"Draco?" she stammered in shock.

"Oh, so we're back on first-name terms again? That's nice - I like saying your name. Its unusual." He replied nonchalantly, leaning on one of the bookshelves.

"What are you doing here?" Hermione asked firmly, pulling herself together.

"Isn't it obvious, Hermione?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"No." she answered defiantly.

"Just drop the act. You know I'm here about our little deal…the Hogsmeade weekend is coming up and I just want to confirm whether you're still coming or not." Draco said in a low voice.

"Uh, well…"

"Look Hermione, I've kept my end of the deal - I think that its only common courtesy if you do the same." Draco commented coolly.

Hermione gave him a glare and then shot back,

"Fine. I'll see you on Saturday at -"

"At the park next to Honeydukes. Wait at the benches and I'll come and find you." Draco cut in.

"I see you've got this all thought out already." Hermione remarked pointedly.

"Of course I have, I'm always the perfect gentleman." he replied sardonically and Hermione allowed herself to smile.

"Ok then. What time?" she asked.

"As soon as you can detach yourself from those two apes that you're always with." Draco answered with a smirk.

"Hey! You shouldn't say that - especially since you have two apelike bodyguards yourself." Hermione responded hotly.

"Crabbe and Goyle? They're not my bodyguards. They are just my extremely loyal and stupid friends." he admitted.

"Oh whatever. You should probably go now - Blaise will be here soon and -"

"And you're ashamed of me? Is that it?" Draco quipped, pretending to look hurt.

"Oh shut up! You know why you have to leave - no one is supposed to know that we're kind of friends." Hermione said vehemently, standing up to try and lessen Draco's advantage of looking down on her.

"Fine, I shall respect your wishes. But you owe me one." He smiled evilly.

"Just go!" Hermione answered, pushing him out of the secluded corner where they were standing.

"See you on Saturday, Hermione." He said turning to leave, but then turned around and leaned in to breathe this into her ear -

"Don't be late."

And then he was gone.

Hermione was still flustered and in shock when Blaise arrived a minute later and she realised how right she had been to tell Draco to leave - if Blaise had seen them together…

"Hey Granger." he said with a smile, greeting her as he always did.

"Hi Blaise." she replied, trying to pull herself together.

"You will not believe who I just saw in the library." Blaise said with a grin.

"Who?" Hermione asked with bated breath - don't let it be him, she thought desperately.

"Draco!" Blaise exclaimed, but he didn't notice Hermione cringe and kept going, " Haha, and he was so shifty when I asked him what he was doing here. I bet he was checking out Padma Patil - he thinks she's gotten hotter since Harry started dating her."

"Oh, really?" Hermione responded half-heartedly.

"Yeah. Didn't you see him, Granger?" He asked curiously.

"Uh, well not exactly…" she stammered.

"You had to have seen him! This table has the best view of the library - you can see everyone coming in and out." Blaise pressed.

"Yeah well I might've not been looking." Hermione answered shortly.

"But he was coming from the direction of where you were sitting - hang on - was he here talking to _you _Granger!" Blaise suddenly exclaimed.

"Shut up Blaise! Its none of your business." Hermione burst out in return.

"So he _was _here to talk to you. What did he want?" Blaise asked suspiciously, staring at her strangely again.

Hermione broke eye contact with him after a few moments - his blue eyes were too piercing and intense.

"Tell me, Granger. Was he threatening you?" he prompted.

"No…nothing like that." Hermione answered slowly.

"Then what? You can tell me - I promise I wont tell anyone." Blaise assured her.

"I don't want to." she said stubbornly.

"Granger - you know that your secrets are always safe with me. Haven't I told you that already? C'mon I thought that we trusted each other." Blaise said, reminding her of how he had told her all about his turbulent friendship with Draco and how she had in return told him about her own with Ron and Harry.

She sighed.

"Do you solemnly swear that you wont tell _anyone_?" Hermione asked.

"Of course." Blaise replied.

"Ok…well do you remember how I made a deal with Draco?" she asked.

He nodded.

"The deal was that he would be friends with you again…but only if I went to Hogsmeade with him this weekend." Hermione explained.

"What! So you've had this deal for a few weeks and you never told me about it? You shouldn't have done that - you're putting yourself in danger just so that he and I can be friends again. Granger I don't want you sacrificing yourself like that!" Blaise responded heatedly.

"Blaise! You're obviously overreacting to this - I am not 'sacrificing' myself so that you two can be friends - its just one day in Hogsmeade! How is that dangerous!" Hermione retorted.

"You don't know him like I do." Blaise answered, reminding her again of what he had said about Draco before. Was he really as horrible as Blaise was making him out to be? Hermione kept thinking about what had happened between her and Draco back in the past and she just couldn't see what Blaise was talking about - Draco wasn't a bad person at all.

"Look, Granger I don't care what you do. You can make up your own mind about it. I'm out of here." Blaise said suddenly, getting up to leave.

"Blaise -"

"Save it. Have fun with _Draco._"

And then he stormed off.

Saturday.

Hermione woke up with a headache - she had been unable to sleep the night before because she had spent all night thinking about what Blaise had said about Draco and what excuse to use on Ron and Harry to get away to meet him.

She rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, feeling generally unhappy. She was going to lie to her closest friends about meeting up with her former enemy - talk about a change of priorities.

She tiredly changed into her Muggle outfit for the day - jeans and a plain white fitted sweater - she was trying to be as inconspicuous as she could about her appearance. She walked out in the Head Common Room and found both Ron and Harry there already waiting for her.

"Morning." she said dully.

"Morning Hermione…god, you look terrible. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" Ron remarked bluntly.

"Thanks for that, Ron. Now I feel so much better about myself." She snapped back wearily.

"Don't listen to him, Hermione. I think you look great." Harry assured her loyally, glaring at Ron.

"Where are your girlfriends?" Hermione asked.

"We're meeting them later in Hogsmeade." Harry replied.

"Ok…so are we ready to go?" she asked.

"Sure. We were just waiting for you to get ready." Ron answered.

So they exited the Head Portrait and were almost at the foyer where they were meeting McGonagall when Hermione realised that she had left her purse back in her room.

"Sorry guys, I'll just have to dash back up and get it. I'll catch up with you later." Hermione said, running back up the stairs, leaving two very confused friends behind.

She reached her room in record time and grabbed her purse quickly from her dressing table but then found that she was so out of breath that she needed to take a break before dashing back down to Harry and Ron. She sat down on the sofa in the Common Room and tried to catch her breath.

After a few minutes, she felt a bit better and she walked to the Portrait and opened it only to find someone standing on the other side.

"Hey Granger."

A/N: Yay! Cliffhanger ending! I love them! Sorry I guess that's a bit evil but its true - they're so cool! Haha, anyways thanks sooo much to my awesome reviewers**: ShimmeringEvil, etherealfire, Monday Mornings, Hali, Ally, HgBookworm, POTTEROX, kKrEiLsLtYa, Lady-Delphinea, MysticStar7037, The Lady of the 4leafed Clover!**

Happy reading and please review!


	21. Chapter Twenty One

**Chapter Twenty One**

Hermione was still staring in shock at the person standing on the other side of the portrait hole.

"B-Blaise…what are you doing here?" she stammered.

"I need to talk to you." Blaise answered.

"W-What? Look, now is not a good time - I have to go to Hogsmeade -"

"No. I have to tell you this before you go." Blaise insisted.

"Ok Blaise, if this is about yesterday in the library then I forgive you. Don't worry about it. Sorry but I _really _need to get going now." Hermione said reasonably, trying to get past him.

"Granger, there's something about Draco that you should know." Blaise said quietly whilst blocking her way out.

"What?" Hermione responded.

"Um…can I come in?" Blaise asked.

Hermione sheepishly nodded and led him to the couches where they both sat down. She cast him a half-apprehensive, half-frustrated glance which he coolly countered.

"Ok, can you keep a secret Granger?" Blaise started off.

"Blaise don't beat around the bush - just tell me." Hermione said bluntly.

He took a deep breath and then turned to face her with a slightly more resolute expression.

"Draco's going to be initiated into the Death Eaters during the Christmas break."

There was a stunned silence that hung in the air after this announcement. Hermione didn't know what to say and Blaise looked uncomfortable enough himself with her reaction. Hermione felt like she had just been hit on the head very hard with a heavy hammer -

"But…isn't he too young to join?" Hermione finally spluttered out.

"No seventeen is the youngest age to join and he turned seventeen during the last holidays but he had just missed out on the last initiation so he had to wait until the next one." Blaise explained grimly.

"Oh. Are there many other…you know, would-be Death Eaters in Slytherin being initiated as well?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Not that I know of…although seventeen is the minimum age, rarely are people that age actually deemed mature and worthy enough to become part of the Death Eaters." Blaise answered.

"Oh."

"I'm sorry that I had to be the one to tell you. I didn't want to ruin your date today but…I didn't want you going without the knowledge of who and what he is. What he's capable of." Blaise said softly.

Hermione looked at him, feeling completely shellshocked. How could today have gotten even worse than she had imagined? She felt so incredibly betrayed- she had thought she knew the _real _Draco, the one that was behind the whole façade of a spoilt arrogant pretty boy who dominated the school. The Draco that actually cared about people and their feelings.

But now, she knew that she had just fallen for his act. He was going to be a DEATHEATER! After all that had happened, he hadn't changed at all - he was still a Malfoy, still the same sadistic asshole destined to be just like his father. He was going to join the ranks of people who found pleasure in other people's pain and she felt so stupid for having believed that he was different - that he _wasn't _the person he had made himself out to be all these years.

How could she ever have anything to do with a person who was going to be part of a group that lived to serve the man whose sole ambition in life is to kill Harry? How could she have ever been so naïve to think that he had changed?

Hermione felt so sick.

How could she be so blind?

"I'm sorry Granger." Blaise whispered again.

"Now I understand why you overreacted about the deal." Hermione responded wanly.

"I wanted to tell you at the time but …"

"I know. But I'm glad that you told me. Otherwise who knows what might've happened…" Hermione tried to laugh bitterly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure nothing would've happened - Draco's not _that _bad yet." Blaise comforted her, putting his arm around her.

Hermione glanced at him with watery eyes, she didn't want to cry in front of him but she just felt so helpless and betrayed that the tears fell of their own accord. She buried her face in his shoulder and just let her frustrations out on him. He hugged her close and stroked her back comfortingly and they just sat like that on the couch for almost fifteen minutes before Hermione's sobbing subsided.

"I feel like I've just been used. See, I knew that it was all too good to be true - one minute he's a complete jerk and the next he's just a normal nice guy. I always wondered why he had wanted to be friends with me even after coming back from the past and now I know - he was just using me to get closer to Harry so that he could help Voldemort kill him." Hermione said in a hoarse voice.

"Whoa, I think that you're making assumptions there, Granger." Blaise exclaimed.

"Oh yeah? Why else would he want to be friends with me? We used to be archenemies and he absolutely despised me! There is no logical explanation for it apart from the fact that he is trying to get close to Harry through me." Hermione shot back at Blaise.

"Why would he want to do that?" Blaise challenged.

"Because Draco Malfoy hated me before…and probably still does." Hermione finished, biting her lips.

"No we all know that that's not true, Granger." Blaise said firmly.

"And how would _you _know?" Hermione retorted.

"Because you're too beautiful for any boy to hate."

And then Blaise captured her lips with his and was kissing her intensely. She had no time to react or push him away but her body wouldn't let her do that anyway because she was actually enjoying it. She felt completely overwhelmed by the sensation - this kiss was so different from her slow unhurried kiss with Draco but equally romantic. It continued on undisturbed for several moments before he pulled away.

She felt herself being pushed down to lie on the couch and looked up to see Blaise propped up on his arms gazing down at her. She felt surprised at this sudden turn of events because she had never thought of Blaise in any way other than just a friend and even though she had tried to push it out of her mind - she couldn't help but see Xavier's face every time she looked at Blaise.

But all the time she had spent together with him had allowed to her to realise that they were two completely different people on the inside. She hadn't noticed that there was sexual tension between them during any of the tutoring sessions but as she stared back up at him and felt all the places where his body was touching hers - she realised that they were both definitely attracted to each other.

"Granger…I'm sorry…I didn't -"

"No, um…its alright it's just that I'm feeling kind of vulnerable at the moment I guess and my thoughts are really jumbled up. Maybe now is not a good time to discuss what just happened." Hermione spluttered.

"Yeah, sure I understand. I'm sorry about the kiss…it just kind of happened. I didn't mean to do it to you while you were still trying to recover from the Draco thing but…" Blaise trailed off.

"Look, I think its best that I spend some time alone now. I need to…sort things out." Hermione said awkwardly and Blaise nodded and climbed off the couch.

"Ok. So…I'll see you around then, Granger. Sorry about everything…" Blaise mumbled.

Hermione waved to him as he climbed through the portrait hole and slumped back completely onto the couch when he was gone.

What the hell had just happened?

Draco stood nonchalantly leaning on one of the light poles and casually looked down at his watch. He had been waiting at the benches for more than an hour, but he wasn't too fussed- Hermione was probably having a really hard time finding an excuse to get away from Pothead and Weasel.

He smiled lazily to himself - he couldn't believe his luck - he was actually going on a _date _with Hermione Granger. He wasn't excited like he thought that he would be, but rather he was feeling relaxed and content at the turn of events - less than a month ago he had been completely depressed and angry at everyone and now he was back to normal - with the exception of his unexplainable attraction to Hermione Granger.

He sighed, sat down on the bench and glanced at his watch again - the minutes were ticking by and the winter air was getting colder and colder. He shrugged, maybe Weasley and Potter really weren't giving her a chance to get away at all. He continued to wait, until light snow started to fall - giving him a wake up call -

She wasn't coming.

He got up angrily and brushed the snow off his tailored cloak furiously. She had lied to him - she had stood him up! How dare she! _Nobody _had ever stood him up before - they all understood that an invitation from Draco Malfoy was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that stupid Mudblood had gone and thrown away her chance again.

He felt so stupid - why had he ever believed that they could ever be something? He was just setting himself up to be pushed down again and again so why he was allowing himself to be continually deluded?

He had never felt this way about a girl before - but then again no other girl had ever been so elusive. He was finding it so frustrating how every time he thought that they were getting somewhere in their relationship she would do something completely unexpected and leave him feeling cheated.

He began to walk angrily back towards Hogsmeade village.

He was going to pay a certain someone a visit.

**A/N:** Oh…another horrible chapter to write. I know some of you don't like how this chapter turned out because

a) Blaise kissed Hermione (ick)  
b) Blaise dobbed Draco in and ruined their date and

c) Draco is angry at Hermione now.

So sorry everyone but…its essential for plot development ok? So bear with me and stay tuned for the next chapter which involves confrontations!

Thanks again to my gorgeous reviewers who have stuck by me:

**The Lady of the 4leafed Clover, dracool, ****Queenofhell****Kace08****Lady-Delphinea****CrazyGirl2092****kKrEiLsLtYa****, Mandie /POTTEROX, ****DizzyDawn007****Monday Mornings****, Newbie, ****ShimmeringEvil****HgBookworm**


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

**Chapter Twenty Two**

Hermione was still lying on the couch thinking about everything that had just happened - from the bombshell that Blaise had dropped on her about Draco becoming a Deatheater to that totally unexpected kiss from Blaise…hmm.

Suddenly she was jerked rather rudely from her thoughts by someone barging into the Head Common room yelling her name.

"HERMIONE!" they shouted.

She sat up abruptly and glared at the intruder - but then her expression softened when she realised who it was.

"Oh hi Harry, hi Ron…" she said wearily.

"Thank god we've found you, Hermione. We were starting to wonder where you had disappeared off too…you never came to Hogsmeade to meet us." Harry said.

"Sorry guys I didn't mean to make you worry! Its just that I kind of… passed out before I could make it back down to meet you guys so I didn't end up going." Hermione lied feebly.

"You fainted -" Harry started off

"On the couch?" finished Ron sceptically.

"Yes I did. Is it that hard to believe?" Hermione defended

"Well its very lucky isn't it? You seem perfectly fine to me, Hermione. Are you lying to us?" Ron said bluntly.

"Ron! That's _not _what you were supposed to say." Harry hissed.

"No Harry, its either we confront her now or we're never going to get the chance again." Ron answered.

"Confront me about what?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Um, well it's just Ron and I have noticed that you've been acting quite strangely lately." Harry replied.

"I have not been acting strangely!" She protested indignantly.

"The first symptom is denial." Ron commented sagely

"Shut up Ron." said Harry and Hermione in unison.

"But its true! Honestly, what's up Hermione? You just haven't been yourself since you came back from the past. We don't know what really went on between you and Malfoy, but I'm betting that its more than you've told us. Look, I really don't want you to get hurt by that ferret so whatever is going on between you two at the moment really has to stop." said Ron quietly.

Hermione was shocked.

She hadn't even realised that she had been acting differently because of Blaise and Draco…but then she thought more about it and there really was no denying that she had been keeping things from her best friends ever since she had come back - she was even lying to them at this very moment about why she didn't end up going to Hogsmeade.

After an awkward silence, Hermione cleared her throat and started to talk.

"You're right Ron. I guess I have been acting differently since I've gotten back…but its not really about Draco. I mean something did happen back in the past, but its really nothing major so you don't have to worry about that and I still think that he's a prat and all that. I do realise that I have been pretty unfair to you both in keeping things from you, but its only because I don't want you guys to worry about me."

"Hermione by keeping things from us, you're making us worry more about you." Harry pointed out.

"Well you shouldn't because I know how to take care of myself. Relax, everything's perfectly fine its just that I'm still trying to settle back into the school environment. Its weird to see Malfoy and not being able to talk to him anymore after spending a whole month alone with him you know?" Hermione admitted.

"Do you…miss his company?" Ron asked with a disgusted expression.

"Not anymore." Hermione said truthfully.

"Well its good that you've finally kind of cleared things up with us, Hermione." Harry said with a smile.

"We really appreciate it." Ron added with a grin.

"I'm sorry that I didn't talk to you about it earlier…its just that I was afraid that you guys would think badly of me." Hermione said.

"You shouldn't worry so much about our reactions - we're your friends, there's nothing that can change that." said Ron seriously.

"Thanks guys…" Hermione said softly, reaching out to hug them both.

"Well we had better get going if we still want to go to Hogsmeade. Hope you feel better soon Hermione. We'll bring some stuff from Honeydukes back for you." Harry said, waving a cheery goodbye to her.

"Have fun!" Hermione called after them as they left.

It was strange, but she still didn't feel relieved even though she had just had a talk with her best friends. But that was probably because she hadn't really told them anything - but she had a perfectly legitimate reason right? No matter what Ron said about nothing ruining their friendship Hermione _knew _that if they found about Draco asking her out on a date they would not be quite as understanding as they had been today.

Then suddenly a loud noise from outside the portrait hole interrupted her thoughts again.

Hermione shook her head - it must be Ron and Harry coming back to persuade her to go to Hogsmeade or something. She walked towards the portrait hole but then stopped dead in her tracks at the sound of the voice on the other side.

"GRANGER! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR!"

Hermione gulped.

It was Draco.

Draco stood fuming on the other side of the portrait. He was covered in melting snow flakes and shivering slightly from the icy cold slush that was seeping into his cloak and onto his expensive clothes.

That damn Granger. Why did she always have to ruin everything? He had never felt so humiliated in his life - a girl had _never _stood him up before and to add insult to injury, he had been forced to wait for more than two hours out in the snow for her and brave the long snow filled walk back to the castle to find her!

"GRANGER! OPEN IT UP NOW OR ELSE I'LL HEX IT OPEN!" Draco yelled at the portrait.

The portrait was of a rather scholarly looking woman and she was glaring at him.

"I don't know who you think you are young man, but you mustn't shout so loud or else I shall inform the Headmaster about your inappropriate behaviour." She hissed at him.

Draco glared right back at her and continued to shout.

"GRANGER THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE! OPEN UP NOW OR ELSE I'LL KICK IT OPEN!"

There was still no response so Draco took out his wand and was racking his brain for a spell which would force the portrait to open up when incredibly it opened up of its own accord.

Draco stared up in shock at the woman in the portrait.

"Why-"

"I couldn't stand your shouting. Hurry up and get inside young man, I don't have all day." The portrait cut in bluntly.

Draco obliged and walked smartly into the Head Common room which he found was empty much to his chagrin.

"Granger, I don't have time for this. I will find you wherever you're hiding eventually anyway, so why don't you just come out and talk to me?" Draco said silkily.

He looked around the room and found that the Head Girl's door was closed. He set his mouth and walked slowly towards it, his wand in front of him.

"_Alohomora._" he muttered and the door burst open.

Hermione stood on the other side biting her lips and refusing to meet his eyes. She looked so pretty in her simple outfit of a brown overcoat and white sweater over jeans and he knew that she had originally planned to meet him -otherwise why would she be wearing such warm clothes inside the already warm Hogwarts castle?

So why hadn't she come?

"Look at me, Granger." he ordered in a low voice.

She blinked once and then raised her eyes to meet his. To his surprise, her eyes were not filled with fear or regret or guilt…they were hard and icy and filled with anger and hatred.

"What are you doing here, _Draco_?" she asked coldly, emphasising the fact that she was still calling him by his first name.

"Why do you think I'm here, _Hermione_?" He countered.

"I know why you're here, but _what _do you hope to accomplish by coming here to see me?" Hermione responded.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say - and I don't know why you're acting like this but I just want you to answer this question - why are you doing this to me?" He asked quietly.

"Its only what you deserve after what _you've_ done to me." Hermione answered.

"Excuse me? What have I ever done to you that warrants me standing out in the snow waiting for you for more than two hours and then walking all the way back to the castle to see you? I think that _I _should be the one asking the questions, not you Hermione." Draco retorted.

"What have you done? I'm guessing that you don't remember all the things you've done to me and my friends throughout the six years we've been at Hogwarts." she responded.

"I cant believe you're acting like this! I thought that we had sorted all our differences out - we're supposed to be _friends _now for god's sake. Do you have any idea how much you've put me through just to get to this stage with you?" Draco exclaimed.

"Well I'm sorry that I've ruined your little plans for me. The secret's out, Draco. I'm not going to let you use me." Hermione answered icily.

"Use you? Is that what you think this is all about?" Draco asked in surprise.

"No its not what I think this is all about. Its what I _know _what this is all about - I can see right through your act, Draco. I'm not stupid you know. You haven't changed one bit and I was stupid to believe that you had." Hermione said bitterly.

"What the hell are you talking about, Hermione? You really have no idea what this is like for me! I have put aside everything that I've ever been taught by my father so that I could start over with you. I _want _to be your friend, I don't bloody care that you're a Mudblood anymore!" Draco exclaimed.

"Stop it, Draco. Just get out. I don't ever want to speak to you again. You're nothing but a lying, arrogant, mindless ferret and I don't want anything to do with you." Hermione responded harshly.

"I don't know what you're playing at, Granger. I don't know whether this was your plan all along - to set me up and then push me back down when things were getting better between us but let me assure you that I won't forget this. I wont forget what you've done to me you selfish bitch." Draco sneered angrily.

Then he slammed Hermione's door shut and walked away.

**A/N: **Ok guys don't bash me up just because I made Hermione and Draco fight! Sorry…but it had to happen. Anyways, hope you guys all enjoyed that chapter - I am so damn tired now because I stayed up late to finish it off.

THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

**Chapter Twenty Three**

Hermione felt waves of regret and frustration rolling over her as Draco slammed the door on her. Why did everything have to be so damned complicated with them? They always got so close to getting what they wanted with each other but then something would pop up and ruin everything.

She hadn't wanted everything to end between them again - especially not like this…and especially not after they had been through all of this already.

But she knew that his connections to the Dark side would surface and force them apart sometime - it was inevitable considering his background but she had tried to ignore it and instead she imagined what it would be like to be with him, to be the one who changed him - to be the one who won him over to the Light side.

She felt so utterly betrayed - how could he go and become a Death Eater after all that had happened between them! Hadn't she had _any _sort of effect on him? Hadn't she changed him just a little bit? Hadn't she made him question his beliefs at all?

Well she thought she had at least a little but that obviously wasn't the case.

She sighed and collapsed onto her bed. She knew that she had been harsh to him when he had come in today with no clue about how much damage their relationship had suffered because of what she had found out but really, how could she be kind to him when he was just using her to get to Harry?

Hermione tried to push away the feelings of guilt and regret and focus on something else - the fact that Draco was going to become a Death Eater. She couldn't believe it - he was still so young…the Death Eaters had always seemed to her to be this underground cult of sorts that evil Pureblooded old men were part of - definitely not the place for a seventh year Hogwarts boy.

Then a sickening kind of realisation hit as she finally understood the implications of Draco becoming a Death Eater - they would be fighting against each other in the not so distant Wizarding war. Hermione let out a small cry of anguish…how could everything have turned out like this? She wasn't meant to have these feelings for Draco Malfoy, she was meant to hate him and feel nothing but repulsion when she saw him…but that was so far from the truth of what she really felt that it was beginning to scare her.

How could her feelings for him have changed so drastically?

She shook her head.

She couldn't go on like this - she shouldn't regret what she had done to him because it was justified, he didn't feel for her the way she felt for him so why should she put herself on the line so that he could use her to fulfil his Dark Lord's evil plans for Harry?

Hermione sat up, feeling more resolute and determined. She wasn't going to let this get to her - she was going to make herself forget _everything _that had happened between them from their tentative first friendship, to how he had saved her from Xavier, to their first kiss and everything since then.

She closed her eyes but she could not get memories of the time they had spent together out of her mind. She kept seeing his silvery blond hair, his aristocratic features and those beautiful steel grey eyes staring back her in her mind.

Hermione sighed.

It wasn't going to be easy to forget about Draco Malfoy.

She had fallen asleep for the rest of the afternoon - her only escape from her troubles but she was woken up by incessant knocking on her bedroom door. The room was only lit by the rays of the fading sunshine and she cursed whoever it was who had woken her up.

Hermione stumbled to the door and blearily glared at the intruder.

"Blaise!" she exclaimed, suddenly alert.

"Hi, sorry for waking you up…" he apologised, but Hermione wasn't listening to him.

She was looking guiltily at his bloody nose and his swollen eye.

"Is that what he did to you?" She whispered, reaching out to touch his eye timidly.

Blaise took a deep breath and then exhaled and nodded.

"Oh my god. I'm sorry, this is all my fault…if I hadn't blown up at him today then he wouldn't have hit you." She murmured.

"It's ok. I'd rather be the one that he ended up hurting - if I hadn't told you about him, then you'd be the one suffering and I definitely wouldn't want that." Blaise told her, looking at her sincerely.

Hermione gulped.

An awkward silence ensued.

"So, er I had better help you get cleaned up." said Hermione.

She led him into the shared Head bathroom and turned on the tap, wetting a wad of tissues which she used to gently dab away the dried blood on his face. His eyes never left her as he watched her carefully clean him up and he saw that she was flushing slightly from being so close to him again.

He smirked and wound his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

"You know I meant everything that I said - and did this morning." he whispered into her ear.

Hermione's heart rate sped up at hearing those words and also from being in such close proximity to him once again.

"Blaise…" she started off before she was rudely interrupted by another male voice.

"Hermione!"

It was Harry. And by the look on his face, he was very startled by what he saw.

"What are you err…and Blaise doing?" He asked suspiciously.

"Um hi Harry, I was just helping Blaise get cleaned up. He got into a fight with Malfoy." she explained, stepping away from Blaise.

"Oh right then. Doesn't look like much cleaning up is going on." Harry replied.

"Cleaning me up is all that she's been doing I assure you, Potter." Blaise responded firmly.

"Ok whatever. I'll talk you later then, Hermione. Are you guys coming down for dinner?" Harry said, still obviously unconvinced.

"No I don't think so…do you think you could do us a favour and bring up some food later?" Hermione asked

"Sure. Well, see you later then - bye Blaise." Harry said, turning to go.

Once he was gone, Hermione let out the breath that she had been holding and turned to Blaise and smiled.

"You know, for a moment I thought that he was going to bash you up as well." she joked.

"Me too." he replied and then his eyes locked with hers again.

"Look Blaise, I'm kind of still confused at the moment. I don't really think the now is a good time for a relationship between us…" Hermione said uncomfortably.

"Its ok, I can wait." Blaise replied softly.

"I'm not so sure about that." Hermione laughed faintly.

"Hermione, I'm serious. Don't be so worried…I'm nothing like Draco." he said.

"I know, but I still think that it's too soon for all this." Hermione replied timidly.

"I can help you get over him. You just have to accept me." said Blaise firmly.

"Accept you as what?" she asked.

"More than just a friend." he answered.

Hermione sighed and walked out of the bathroom to the portrait hole.

"I'll have to think about it first, Blaise. I'll talk to you tomorrow or something…I had better go down and join Harry and Ron for dinner." she said finally.

Blaise nodded with a small smile and then said,

"I'll be waiting for you, whether or not you decide to accept me."

Hermione gulped again and nodded numbly before stepping out of the Head dormitories and making her way down to the Great Hall.

Draco was sitting at the Slytherin table surrounded by all his Housemates and yet he felt completely alone. His eyes scanned the Gryffindor table for Hermione but she was conspicuously absent from her group of idiots and suspiciously, so was Blaise.

He was still reeling from what had happened between him and Hermione - what the hell could've happened to make her hate him so much all of a sudden?

Draco shook his head and put his cutlery down with a loud clang making all of his Housemates stop their chatter and stare at him in surprise.

"Draco, sweetie…are you alright?" Pansy simpered.

"I'm fine." He muttered, standing up.

"Where are you going?" asked Millicent.

"Back to the dorms." he replied callously, storming out of the Great Hall - not giving a damn that everyone was giving him startled looks.

He only had one thing on his mind.

Draco hadn't gone very far when he found what he was looking for.

She was coming down the stairs looking almost normal until she saw him and her features hardened.

"Granger, I need to talk to you." he said lowly, moving to block her way down.

"Get out of my way, Malfoy." Hermione answered crossly.

"We need to talk." Draco said tensely.

"There's nothing to talk about." she replied sullenly, and made to push him out of the way.

Draco grabbed her arm and pulled her firmly against him. She shot him a glare and tried to wriggle out of his grip but he was too strong for her.

"Let go of me, Malfoy." she demanded angrily.

"Not until you agree to talk to me." he countered.

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm already talking to you so let go of me _now _or else I'll scream." Hermione replied icily.

Draco didn't reply and instead held onto her even tighter.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING MALFOY!" Hermione yelled.

He turned around and pointed his wand at her muttering _silencio _under his breath, effectively shutting her up. She shot him a look of deep hatred and continued to mouth curses at him.

"Sorry Granger, I just can't hear you." he said indifferently, and then proceeded to drag her all the way up to the Astronomy Tower.

When they got there he took the Silencing Charm off her and then locked the door behind him.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING MALFOY!" she screamed at him.

"Keep your voice down, Granger. If any of the professors find us here, we'll both get into trouble." Draco answered silkily.

Hermione was absolutely fuming at this stage and she stepped forwards and grabbed the collar of his school shirt and pulled him towards her.

"Ok, Malfoy I don't know what you're playing at, but I'm not going to tell you _anything._" she whispered coldly.

"Let go of my collar." he whispered back.

"Not until you let me get back to my friends." Hermione hissed.

"I'll let you go after you co-operate with me." he answered. She let go of him and stepped back, glaring at him.

"But I don't understand what you want from me now, Malfoy. If you're here to 'explain' yourself then I don't want to hear your lies. So really, this is a completely pointless exercise and I demand that you let me go _now_." Hermione said harshly.

"This is _not _a pointless exercise, Granger. I want to know what exactly you found out about me that made your feelings towards me change so much - and I promise you that you can ask me anything you want about it and I'll answer truthfully." he answered.

"How do I know that you're not lying right now?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Because Draco Malfoy doesn't break his promises." he replied softly.

There was a silence as Hermione thought about it.

"No. I'm not going to believe you again…not after what you did to Blaise." she said bitterly.

"What are you talking about? Me and Blaise are friends again." Draco said confusedly.

"See you're lying right now! You just don't learn do you? I already know _everything, _Malfoy! Blaise told me all about you and if you think I'm stupid enough to fall for your act again then you're wrong." Hermione exclaimed angrily.

"Blaise! What the hell did Blaise tell you! He's meant to be my friend for god's sake." Draco said startled.

"Oh really now, he's meant to be yourfriend and yet you still find it appropriate to give him a bloody nose just for telling me the truth about your little plans for me." Hermione retorted.

"What! When did I ever give Blaise a bloody nose! I've never been in a fight with him before." Draco exclaimed.

"STOP LYING!" Hermione yelled in frustration.

"I'M NOT LYING." Draco yelled back at her.

"I've already seen Blaise, and let me assure you, that bloody nose and swollen eye are both real so don't try to deny it." Hermione said coldly.

"I didn't do that! Did he tell you that I hit him?" asked Draco in shock.

"Yes and I believe him." Hermione stated firmly.

"You believe him? Granger, you have no idea how wrong you are about me - I didn't do it." He insisted.

"Oh so you're saying that he went and bashed _himself _up?" Hermione said sarcastically.

"Actually I wouldn't put it past him to do that." Draco admitted softly.

"And you're saying that he was lying to me about you?" she continued on sceptically.

"Yes, and you still haven't told me what he said to you." Draco answered.

"I think you know already."

"I don't. Just tell me."

Hermione didn't answer and was instead glaring at Draco and he was glaring right back- a silent battle of wills was going on. After awhile Hermione blinked and turned away with a sigh.

"He told me that you're going to be initiated into the Death Eaters soon."

There was a shocked pause before Draco replied.

"…What?"

"Don't act like you haven't heard it all before, Malfoy. Just tell me the truth. Is it true or not?" Hermione asked tensely.

"Absolutely not! Oh god, Granger, you've got the wrong guy." Draco replied with a horrified expression.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione said with her eyes narrowed.

Draco exhaled.

"Blaise is a Death Eater."

A/N: Hehe, another cliffhanger! Hopefully this chapter wasn't as bad as last chapter…I had such a hard time writing the last one because I absolutely detest Blaise and Hermione together but I still had to do it for the plot.

Anyways, please review - I'm in need of motivation at the moment.

Thanks to the people who _did_ review even though they hated the whole Blaise/Hermione thing:

**Lady-Delphinea, ShimmeringEvil, FamousOneLiners, foxeran, Kace08, Monday Mornings, Silverwolf130492, Mandie/POTTEROX, HgBookworm, hp-paddy, elektrikstorm.**

_**Hp-paddy: **I've thought about what you said about the whole boat thing and I wanted to change it to the 19th century but then I don't know…maybe I should just leave it because so many people have already read it as the 18th century but I agree that it's a flaw in the story. Maybe when I finish the story I'll go back and revise it ok? Thanks heaps for giving me your opinion! _


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

**Chapter Twenty Four**

_Previously on Through the Ages:_

"He told me that you're going to be initiated into the Death Eaters soon."

There was a shocked pause before Draco replied.

"…What?"

"Don't act like you haven't heard it all before, Malfoy. Just tell me the truth. Is it true or not?" Hermione asked tensely.

"Absolutely not! Oh god, Granger, you've got the wrong guy." Draco replied with a horrified expression.

"What are you talking about?" Hermione said with her eyes narrowed.

Draco exhaled.

"Blaise is a Death Eater."

_--------_

"You can't be serious." Hermione stammered, her eyes wide.

"Unfortunately, I am." Draco replied with a sigh.

"Why do you keep making up these ridiculous lies to tell me, Malfoy? I don't understand…what have I done to you that makes me deserve all this? Why cant you just tell me the _truth _for once?" She responded bitterly, pushing him away from her.

"Granger, trust me on this one. I am telling the truth. If you still don't believe me, go to Blaise and ask him. I'll be here waiting for you." Draco said with a hint of desperation.

He turned and unlocked the door, opening it for her to go through.

"I know that you're still angry at me from what Blaise told you and that you're probably in love with him now judging by the way you keep defending him…but I just want you to know that I'm sorry about what I said to you this afternoon. I didn't mean it." Draco murmured.

Hermione didn't answer and instead gave him one last fleeting look before disappearing down the winding staircase.

Hermione toyed with the idea of just going back down to dinner and forgetting what Draco had said about Blaise, but her curiosity overpowered her and before she knew it, she was standing in front of the Slytherin dungeons staring inquisitively at the stretch of bare stone wall which was the entrance to their dormitories.

She was starting to regret coming down here - what if Draco really was just lying again and Blaise got angry at her for even thinking that he was a Death Eater? She didn't want to lose him…

In fact the more she stared at the wall, the more she was convinced that it wasn't even the right patch of the wall and she wasn't really sure that she wanted to know whether Draco was telling the truth or not about Blaise because…well…she didn't really want to go through the pain of finding out that she had been fooled yet again by another Slytherin.

She had felt so flattered when Blaise started giving her so much attention and he had seemed like a much more reliable guy than Draco ever had been and…honestly did she want to risk losing Blaise over some unfounded accusation by a jealous Malfoy?

Hermione leant against the wall and sighed.

She calmed herself down and tried to think rationally. Who was more important to her at the moment? Blaise or Draco?

Blaise, she supposed.

But there was just this annoying little part of her that wanted to believe what Draco had said, because that kind of explained why Blaise was acting so nice towards her all of a sudden…

Before she could make a decision, the wall behind her slid open and she fell backwards into someone's arms.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed embarrassedly, disentangling herself from her saviour.

"Well, Hermione I didn't think that you'd make your choice so quickly." Blaise responded with a smirk, the stone wall closing behind him.

Hermione flushed even redder than before upon realising that it was the person that she wasn't ready to see.

"Oh no! I haven't thought about it yet, I erm, was just…you know passing by here and I guess I just wanted to talk to you." She stuttered.

"Right. What did you want to talk about?" asked Blaise, leaning against the wall lazily.

"Er…I was just wondering when's our next…tutoring lesson." Hermione lied.

"Thursday evening, as always." Blaise replied with an eyebrow arched.

"Oh, okay then…ahem well I guess I'll see you then." she said uncomfortably and then she turned to walk away before she made a further fool of herself.

But he grasped her arm before she could move.

"Wait." he murmured.

She turned around and looked at him nervously.

"You didn't come here to ask me about tutoring, Hermione. What did you really come here for?" he asked softly, moving closer to her.

"I…I just don't know what to do. I don't know how I feel about you." Hermione answered truthfully.

"Is that so? Well, I hope that this will make your choice easier." He smirked and leaned in to kiss her.

In the few seconds before their lips met, Hermione had three thoughts flying through her mind.

1. He was really good looking.

2. She didn't want to lose the chance to be with him but…

3. Now was the perfect time to find out once and for all whether he or Draco had been lying to her.

So as his lips touched hers, she brought her hand to the left sleeve of his black robe and pushed it up…

And there it was.

The Dark Mark branded against his pale skin.

Hermione tore herself from him as he frantically jerked his arm back from her grasp to hide his awful secret from her once again.

"Oh god, Blaise…how could you?" Hermione gasped.

"I can explain, Hermione." he responded.

"Don't you dare say that to me. You _lied _to me about everything!" she hissed at him.

"Yes but only because I was in love with you." he whispered.

"Oh give me a break. I'm definitely not going to fall for that again!" Hermione said bitterly.

"Hermione you have to understand that I never meant to hurt you." He tried desperately.

"Oh really, so when were you planning to tell me that you were a Death Eater anyway?" she asked sarcastically, and then she cut him off before he could reply.

"Maybe after you had hexed me and brought me to your Dark Lord so that he could do whatever he wanted with me. God, Blaise. All this time I never saw through your act…I thought that you were the good guy that was genuinely interested in me, and that Draco was the villain who was just using me when it was really the other way around!" She exclaimed.

"Hermione I really do have feelings for you. Ok I'll admit that at first my intentions were not so…admirable but I've changed now, I've fallen for you." Blaise insisted.

"You cant expect me to believe that after I've just found out that everything you've said to me in the past week have all been lies. How could you betray your best friend like that? Don't other people mean anything to you?" she asked.

"I betrayed him because he doesn't deserve you."

"Shut up! No one deserves what you did to him no matter what your reasons are for doing it. For god's sake, Blaise you're a DEATH EATER. How can you expect me to have anything to do with you? You're serving a man whose soul purpose in life is to kill my best friend! How can you do this to me? How can you put me through so much and expect me to forgive you!" she yelled at him.

"I don't expect you to forgive me…but I do hope that you'll give me a second chance…please." Blaise responded quietly, reaching out to pull her to him.

"Don't touch me! Don't ever come anywhere near me or my friends again…and don't even think about talking to me. Its over between us." Hermione spat lividly.

Blaise tried to hold onto her but she slapped him hard across the face and then ran as fast as she could away from him.

Draco staring out into the night sky, feeling completely insignificant in comparison to the millions upon millions of stars that twinkled above him.

He was still in shock about what Hermione had told him.

Blaise?

Out of all people, his own best friend had betrayed him?

Draco shook his head. It just showed that Slytherins could never have true friends. They were too much of a cunning and backstabbing bunch of people to ever let something as stupid as a friendship getting in the way of getting what they wanted.

God, he remembered so vividly the day Blaise got his Dark Mark…

_Flashback_

"Hey Draco, are you ready to go?" asked Blaise, coming into his room.

Draco was lying on his bed reading Quidditch Through the Ages and he lazily shook his head in response.

"I'm not going, Blaise."

"You've got to be kidding, Draco. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity! We'll be the youngest members and the only Death Eaters in Slytherin at the moment. It's the ultimate status symbol." Blaise replied with a smirk.

"I said I'm not going and that's final." Draco answered.

"Why? You've got nothing to lose getting it earlier, I mean after all its only a matter of time before you get it anyway so why not get it now and make all the other Slytherins jealous?" Blaise reasoned.

"I don't need some stupid brand on my forearm to make the rest of the Slytherins jealous. I'm not going to give that half-blood megalomaniac the power to order me around. I'm a _Malfoy, _we don't serve anyone but ourselves." Draco stated nonchalantly.

"Well, that's funny considering your father is like the Dark Lord's right hand man." Blaise retorted.

The next thing he knew Draco had gotten up out of the bed and tackled him onto the carpet in one fluid action.

"Just because my father chose to sell his soul to that pathetic…creature does not mean that I'll do the same to myself. I am _not _my father, Blaise." Draco growled.

"Alright, alright. Geez, Draco, there's no need to act like such an ass to your best friend you know." Blaise muttered.

Draco rolled his eyes and pulled Blaise up.

"Are you sure you're not coming? Your father wont be pleased at all." Blaise remarked.

"I'll deal with him later. You should probably go now, you don't want to be late for your initiation." Draco said sardonically.

"Yeah fine I'll go, but don't come crying to me when you realise that you made a mistake not coming with me." Blaise smirked and then left the room.

_End Flashback_

Draco laughed softly to himself - he would bet anything that Blaise wished that he hadn't gotten the Dark Mark now that he was involved with Hermione. He must _really _like her if he was willing to risk their friendship to get her…

In fact, he wasn't even sure that Blaise's feelings towards her were real…she was after all, St. Potter's best friend and a powerful witch in her own right so perhaps the Dark Lord had sent him to befriend her or something.

Draco shook his head again. He wouldn't put it past the Dark Lord to try something as farfetched as that to get to Potter.

Draco still hadn't spoken to his father about his decision not to join the Death Eaters - he had sidestepped the last initiation by insisting that he was too young to be initiated but he knew that when he went back for Christmas break in a month, his father would not be quite as lenient.

Suddenly, he was jerked from his thoughts by the sound of the door being opened.

Hermione stood framed in the doorway, her face tearstained, her expression unreadable and her hair a mess…but Draco didn't care because what mattered was that she had bothered to come back to him and that she had still trusted him enough to find out the truth.

"Hermione…" he started off but he didn't get to finish off his sentence because she had flung herself on him in a desperate kind of hug and she had buried her face into his shoulder.

"Oh god, Draco…I'm so sorry for what I've done to you. I've been such a bitch about all this and you just had absolutely no idea what was going on. I'm sorry that I didn't trust you enough to try and find out the truth earlier and I'm sorry that I believed Blaise's lies." she whispered.

"I'm sorry that you believed him too…if you hadn't, none of this would've happened." Draco said seriously.

Hermione looked at him with watery eyes and took a deep breath.

"Look, I can understand if you hate me at the moment and I can understand if you never really want to talk to me again but…do you think you could give our relationship another chance?"

"Hm. I don't know, Granger." He said after a pause.

"Please, Draco…we've been through so much to get to this stage and I don't want it all to go to waste over his lies." Hermione murmured.

Draco took one look at Hermione's earnest expression and laughed in spite of himself.

"Its not funny, Draco! This means a lot to me you know." she exclaimed indignantly.

"I know. It means a lot to me too." he answered softly.

"So does that mean that you're willing to forgive me?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Yes, but on one condition." Draco answered.

"Alright…" Hermione responded uncertainly.

"Stop hanging out with Potter and Weasley?" Draco grinned.

"Draco! You know I cant do that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah well it was worth a shot." Draco answered with a smirk.

Hermione playfully slapped him on the arm and they shared a smile…the next thing she knew, Draco had placed his lips on hers and was exploring her mouth gently, slowly savouring every feeling and Hermione responded to the kiss just as tenderly. When the kiss ended, she looked at him with a half-embarrassed expression.

"Wow…that was so…mind-blowing." she remarked breathlessly.

Draco smirked, and responded before he could stop himself,

"All my kisses are like that, you should know, Hermione."

She stared at him in shock for a moment before it clicked in her head.

"What? You mean you remember our first kiss?" she asked.

Draco bit his lip and grimaced - he hadn't meant to let that slip.

"Yeah…I remember every moment of it." He answered with a small smile.

"I thought that you were drunk. Oh my god, you have no idea how much that kiss has affected me." Hermione stated incredulously.

"Oh really? Would you care to explain?" Draco teased.

"Well I thought that you only kissed me _because _you were drunk, not because you had feelings for me. Wow, I feel so much better now that I know that it wasn't because of the Muggle liquor you had." she responded elatedly.

"If I had known how much grief my little white lie would cause you, I would've never denied it." Draco told her softly. She smiled embarrassedly.

"It doesn't matter, we're together now aren't we?" she replied. He nodded and drew her more tightly towards him.

As they stood there, two silhouettes on the Astronomy Tower just holding each other, Draco felt for the first time since he had come back from the past, that everything was right in his life again.

**A/N: **YAY! Draco and Hermione are finally together! Haha well it only gets fluffier from here, so stick around if you're a hopeless romantic and don't worry if you're not because I still have a few twists up my sleeves to use. Oh my god, I was so amazed at the response that I got for the last chapter -I don't think I've ever received as many reviews at once!

Thank you all sooo much for supporting me - you really motivated me to write this chapter so this one was for all you wonderful REVIEWERS!

Here are the dedicatees:

**Flavagurl, elektrikstorm, spotzplaya888, ShimmeringEvil, sly kitten, Dragonfly Tears, Kace08, Tinka Shimmer Belle, greenleafchic127, HgBookworm, darkangelis21, ethereal fire, Monday Mornings, Norie Ape 1, punk-in-blood, Kyani-chan, sammy, Lady-Delphinea, Silverwolf130492, Mandie/POTTEROX, curlygntx, foxeran, hp-paddy, DemonSorceress, beutifulblonde!**

You guys are my inspiration to write and I hope that you all enjoyed the new chapter.

Keep the reviews coming!

Cheers,

psychohart


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

**Chapter Twenty Five**

Hermione closed the door gently behind her as she tiptoed back into her room - she didn't want to wake Harry, who was sleeping next door in the Head Boy's room. She had just returned from 'patrolling the corridors' with, who else but Draco. She was slightly flushed as she collapsed onto her bed, still kind of overwhelmed at how everything had turned out in the past few weeks.

Draco had decided at the beginning to keep their relationship a secret so they had to be content with sneaking out at night to meet up in various rooms around the school and stealing glances at each other whenever they could during classes.

Hermione smiled as she remembered how they were nearly caught by Harry himself the other night when Draco had insisted that she join him on a private late night Quidditch session. She had put up the best fight she could because she absolutely detested flying but she couldn't resist his pleading and so she had given in and meekly climbed onto the back of the broomstick and clung onto his waist for dear life.

They soared around the school grounds and when Hermione finally had the courage to open her eyes to take in the spectacular view - she was met with a head of unruly black hair holding a broomstick, standing directly below them.

"Draco! We have to go - Harry's down there!" She whispered in panic.

He groaned in response, and then flew them back to the Head Girl's tower and let Hermione back into her room.

"I'm sorry our little flying session was interrupted by Potter." Draco said disappointedly.

"Me too." Hermione replied, kissing him lightly on the cheek in consolation.

"I'll pick you up tomorrow night at the same time, and we'll pick up right where we left off alright?" He suggested, leaning in for a more intimate kiss to which Hermione willingly obliged.

Since then, they had been and done so many other things on their late night meetings - from sneaking out to Hogsmeade to indulging themselves in a snow fight near the Lake and once Draco even got hold of a Portkey which took them to London and they revelled in the nightlife there.

Hermione smiled again - this was the most exhilaratingly dangerous yet happiest time of her life and she felt so blessed to have been given a second chance with Draco…but at the same time she felt that something was missing. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced there was something not quite right with their relationship.

She had been trying to figure out exactly what the problem was, and with a shock she suddenly realised that it was the fact that they had to pursue their relationship in secret and they had to keep up the appearance that she still loathed each other. It was taking its toll on Hermione - she would find herself accidentally letting something slip to Harry and Ron and having to hastily cover it up with a lame excuse.

She loved the fact that in secret they could do anything they wanted and she knew that if they made their relationship public they would cop a lot of criticism from everyone, especially from the Slytherins and Gryffindors, but she didn't want to hide anymore.

Hermione had always thought that when she had finally found her Prince Charming (whom Draco resembled very much), she wouldn't be ashamed to let everyone know, but it seemed that this Prince Charming wasn't exactly keen for that to happen.

She sighed.

They had been through so much already to get to where they were now and she knew what would happen if they made their relationship public…but didn't they deserve a break?

She hated having to pretend to still hate him in public and she still felt hurt when he pretended to insult her because she knew that he wasn't like that all and she didn't want to keep up this stupid charade anymore.

Hermione thought about this a little more, and decided she would talk to Draco tomorrow night about it.

Then, exhausted as she was, she finally fell asleep.

When she awoke the next morning, it was to the sound of someone pounding on the door.

"HERMIONE WAKE UP YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS!" yelled Harry through the door.

Hermione practically jumped out of bed in response and frantically got dressed. She was used to this happening now since she was almost always out with Draco at night and she would always sleep through her alarm the morning after because she was so exhausted. When she walked into the Head Common Room, there was note there from Harry.

_Mione, _

_I don't mean to sound rude or anything but the what the hell is up with you lately? You're late for classes all the time now. You're barely with us anymore and you're never in your room - where do you keep disappearing off to at nights, anyway? _

_I think that we need to talk soon._

_See you in class. _

_Harry_

Hermione let out a long sigh.

Harry was right. She had been neglecting them and keeping secrets from them - the exact things she had sworn never to do to them. The fact that her friendship with them was now starting to crumble because of her relationship with Draco made her even more certain that she needed to talk to him soon about going public.

And it wasn't just her friendship with Harry and Ron that was suffering…ever since she started going out with Draco she had barely seen any of the Gryffindors apart from in classes. She knew that they were definitely starting to suspect something was going on, and she was sure that even the teachers could tell since she was constantly late to classes now and though her marks were still very good - they weren't as perfect as they used to always be.

She couldn't let the rest of her life suffer because of her relationship with Draco. She really needed to get her priorities straight and…they needed to talk seriously about where the relationship was heading because if he wanted to keep it secret for the rest of their lives then she wouldn't be able to handle it - however dangerously fun it was to be with him.

Draco sat in the Potions dungeon with an empty seat next to him where Blaise should have been. Blaise had refused to talk to him ever since he and Hermione had gotten together - though Blaise didn't know about it yet. It was partly for that reason that Draco had decided to keep their relationship a secret - he was a bit apprehensive about what Blaise might do if he found out about them.

He looked around the room and was disappointed to see that Hermione hadn't arrived yet. Instead, he saw that Potter and Weasley were engaged in a rather heated discussion about something and Potter looked furious enough to snap Weasley's head off - Draco wouldn't mind that really, there would be one less piece of scum in the world.

He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that both Hermione and Snape were about ten minutes late for the lesson. There was a loud bang as the door swung open and Hermione stood framed in the doorway, clearly out of breath from running to the classroom.

Draco turned around and looked at her steadily and she looked right back at him, her expression unreadable. As the resident asshole of Slytherin, he _had _to make a comment about her being late.

"Well, well if it isn't little Miss Perfect…actually make that little Miss Imperfect, since you're never on time for anything these days." He smirked, aware that she was still looking at him with that odd expression.

The rest of the Slytherins sniggered, except for Blaise who simply glowered at him.

To his surprise, Hermione responded by coming right up to him and grabbing his arm while saying,

"That's it Malfoy. You've gone too far. We need to talk."

She dragged him outside the dungeon and closed the door behind them, muttering a locking spell to insure their privacy.

"What are you doing, Hermione!" He exclaimed.

"I told you, we need to talk." She replied.

"Ok, about what? I'm sorry about that comment by the way, since you seem to be quite sensitive over it. You know I don't mean any of the insults I throw at you these days right?" Draco assured her, tucking one of her stray hairs behind her ear.

"Draco, not here. Look, I've been thinking…I don't think I can keep this up any longer. Its too hard to pretend that I still hate you and all…" she whispered.

"Hermione I thought we agreed that -"

"No, Draco I never agreed to keeping the relationship a secret. I agreed to a relationship - _you _decided we should keep it a secret and I just went along with it because I wasn't in a position to disagree with you…after all I put you through with Blaise and all that." Hermione responded.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" He asked after a pause.

Hermione was about to reply when she was interrupted by a very unwelcome voice.

"Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy, what in the world are you doing?" sneered Snape suspiciously, coming around a corner and finding them standing extremely close to each other.

They sprang apart immediately, Hermione blushing red while Draco kept an impassive face.

"We were just discussing the roster for Prefect patrols, Granger here wants me to do it on Thursday." Draco lied smoothly.

"Is that so?" Snape raised his eyebrows.

Hermione nodded.

Snape glared at her for a moment longer, before telling her to move out of the way. He tried to open the door but found that it was locked with a spell. He raised his eyebrows again at Hermione.

"That was one important secret discussion about Prefect patrols if it warranted a locking spell on my dungeon door." Snape sneered.

Hermione and Draco both said nothing, and followed him into the room when he had unlocked the door. The whole class was buzzing with whispering and murmuring about Hermione's little outburst and when she sat down next to Ron and Harry they had tired and upset expressions on their faces.

She sighed again, her talks with her boys weren't quite over yet.

Hermione didn't speak to any of them until lunchtime came around and she was sitting at the Gryffindor table with Ginny eating her lunch and catching up with her. Draco walked past nonchalantly and glanced at her with his stormy grey eyes and tilted his chin towards the foyer - hinting that he wanted to talk to her.

She looked around and saw Ron and Harry coming towards her, and shook her head at him. He too saw them and rolled his eyes, continuing to saunter to the Slytherin Table.

"What are you doing, Mione?" Ginny asked quietly, watching the exchange with disgust.

"Oh, um I think Malfoy needed to discuss something with me. Prefect stuff." She added hastily.

Ginny stared at her friend in shock.

"Hermione are you going out with him?" she asked distressedly.

Hermione gulped - she didn't see how she was going to get out of telling Ginny, but then she was saved by Ron and Harry plonking themselves down next to her and looking at her with serious expressions.

"Hi guys." she said brightly.

"Hermione we need to talk." Harry said solemnly.

"Yes, I got your note this morning." Hermione responded with a small smile.

"Its not funny, Hermione. You're keeping something from all of us and we're not sure it's a good thing." Ron murmured.

Ginny watched _this _exchange with even more fascination.

"What's going on guys?" She asked, suspiciously eyeing Hermione.

"I…well lets just say I've been preoccupied with other things lately, so preoccupied I haven't been able to spend time with you all and I'm honestly sorry about that. But I'm Head Girl this year and there is just so much more going on than when I was just a Prefect…I don't mean to neglect you guys its just that I don't have time anymore." Hermione explained, feeling guilty for bending the truth.

"Hermione don't lie to us. Harry's Head Boy and somehow he's found time for us…and what are these mysterious things that keep taking up your time anyway?" Ron asked quietly.

"Well I am taking more subjects than either of you, so I have much more work to do." Hermione reasoned.

"That's another lie - you're never in your room and you're never in the library anymore either, I checked there too…no what's been taking up your time is completely unrelated to Head Girl duties or homework." Harry said firmly.

"Are you seeing someone, Hermione?" Ron asked faintly.

"Er…well technically no." She admitted.

"What do you mean 'technically no'?" Harry retorted.

"I…cant tell you guys yet. What I mean is that…its not official." Hermione stammered, feeling better for telling the truth.

"Who is it?" Harry and Ron asked in unison.

Hermione paused.

Maybe telling the _whole _truth wasn't such a good idea.

"Oh well you know, this guy in our grade." She shrugged.

"Well he's not in Gryffindor…which leaves the other two houses." Ron pointed out.

"Ron, there _are _four houses in Hogwarts. Four minus one is three, in case you've forgotten." Ginny teased.

" Little sisters, they are the bane of my existence." Ron rolled his eyes, "I _can _count you know - its just that there's no one in Slytherin that Hermione would go out with, so I'm not bothering to count them."

Ginny turned and gave Hermione a look, which she calmly returned.

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Ginny asked quietly.

Hermione didn't say anything, but Harry and Ron didn't notice - they were too busy wondering who it could possibly be.

**A/N: **Thanks for all your reviews guys! I hope you liked this chapter - to be honest I was going to rewrite the last chapter after reading some of your reviews because when I read it again, it was a bit too soppy for my liking, but then I realised that there wasn't any other I could get them together because they had been through soooo much they deserved a bit of old fashioned mush. So yeah, I guess that original ending of Chapter 24 stays there…until further notice.

Again, this was one of those filler chapters - sorry if it was boring but it had to be written - I promise next chapter will be more interesting so yeah stay tuned everyone and thanks for all your support!


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

**Chapter Twenty Six**

That night Hermione was patrolling the corridors with Harry. They had been catching up, completely ignoring the topic of Hermione's secret 'unofficial' boyfriend even though it still hung in the air between them.

"Yeah and then, Ron decided that he didn't believe a word Ginny had said and decided to follow her to the lake. Guess who she was meeting up with!" Harry asked, his eyes filling up with mirth.

"Oh I have absolutely no idea…I don't know, maybe Colin Creevey?" Hermione suggested.

"Nope, but you're close." Harry hinted.

"Colin's brother!" Hermione guessed.

"NO! She was meeting up with Neville!" Harry chortled.

"Neville! Out of all people…wow…" Hermione trailed off.

"Quite unbelievable isn't it? You'd think Ginny would have better taste considering…well…" Harry wiggled his eyebrows.

"Considering she liked you, right? Haha, actually I think Neville's an improvement from you." Hermione teased, dodging a playful jab from Harry.

"Yeah so anyway, Hermione, do you feel like telling me who this mystery guy is?" Harry asked all of a sudden.

The conversation stopped as Hermione paused.

"Harry, we've discussed this already. I'm not ready to tell you guys yet." She said finally.

"Yes but honestly, the suspense is killing us. I mean we've been through all the possible candidates and they've denied anything to do with you." Harry admitted.

"WHAT! You've asked every boy in the grade whether or not they're seeing me!" Hermione exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah well desperate times call for desperate measures." Harry reasoned.

"That's no excuse! Oh my god, I am so embarrassed now…how could you guys do that to me!" Hermione moaned.

"Its not like it helped anyway, and I'm sure they didn't mind." Harry tried to console her.

She sighed.

"Look you'll find out in your own time. In fact, things aren't going very well between us at the moment. You see, I want to go public with the relationship but he doesn't so…" Hermione confessed.

"God, what type of guy doesn't want to show off that he's going out with the Head Girl?" Harry commented, shaking his head.

"My type of guy, apparently." Hermione said with a crooked smile.

Harry put his arm around her and comforted her.

"I'm sure everything will work out in the end, Mione. But let me say this, if he doesn't want to go public with you then he's not worth it. Okay?"

Hermione nodded, her eyes feeling slightly watery.

"Thanks Harry. It's been so long since we last talked…it feels good to be friends again."

"Yeah, its good to have you back, Mione." Harry agreed.

They finished their patrols and slowly walked back to the Head Common Room. It was quite late already so they said their goodnights and went to their respective rooms.

Hermione had just stepped into her room when a hand clapped itself over her mouth. She tried to yell and squirm away from the intruder but their grip on her was too strong. She was reminded of the time that Draco had done the same thing to her back when they were on their little adventure in 18th century France…

She could hear the intruder muttering locking spells on every possible exit in her room and she relaxed as she realised whose voice it was. He released his grip on her and spun her around to face him.

"Draco, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked wonderingly.

"I needed to talk to you." He replied simply.

"Did you have to attack me like that?" She asked slightly irritably.

"I didn't want you screaming in case Potter overheard." Draco answered.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down on her bed.

"So, are you here to talk about going public?" she asked calmly, though on the inside her emotions were all over the place.

Draco sat down next to her and looked at her seriously.

"Yes. Listen, I've been thinking about what you said to me today, Hermione."

"And…?"

"Well first let me explain the reason why I wanted to keep our relationship secret in the first place." Draco said.

"Go ahead." Hermione responded.

"Apart from the fact that everyone would be against us being together…I was worried about Blaise and what he might do if he found out." Draco admitted.

"Blaise? I know he's a Death Eater and all now, but I really don't think he'd do anything too bad considering we're still under the protection of Dumbledore as long as we're in Hogwarts." Hermione reasoned.

"Yeah but you don't know how screwed up he's been over this whole debacle with you. I think he actually really cared about you…I don't understand how since he's a heartless bastard but either way, you would be in danger if he found out about us. I think he has a fair idea already since he's not speaking to me anymore, only certain Slytherins knew that he had already become a Death Eater so he's probably figured out that I told you."

"Oh." Hermione gulped.

"And also, I wanted to be with you without having to worry about what other people thought. I wanted for us to enjoy simply being with each other, instead of having to deal with all the other shit that people are going to give us for getting together." Draco continued.

"Okay, Draco, I'm sorry for snapping at you today about all this. If I had known your reasons I would've understood why we cant go public. So its perfectly okay if you don't want to…I understand." Hermione said softly.

"No but that's the thing, Hermione. The reason I came to talk to you tonight was because I think we _should _go public." He responded with a small smile.

"…What?" she said after a pause.

"Like I said before, I've been thinking about what you said to me today. In fact I've spent the whole day going over and over everything and I realised that I cant let this relationship suffer over something like this." Draco stated.

"Draco…"

"Shh. Just listen to me." He admonished softly before continuing.

"I asked myself how much I wanted to be with you, as opposed to how much I cared about what other people thought about us. My answer was that I don't give a shit what other people think as long as _you're_ willing to be with me. We've been through so much, Hermione to get to where we are now and I don't want to just let all that hard work go." Draco grinned,

"So what do you say?"

"…I'm well, lost for words." Hermione stammered.

"A simple 'you're the best, Draco' would suffice." he smirked.

"Okay fine, you're the best, Draco." she deadpanned.

"Anything else you want to say, Hermione?" Draco prompted.

Then she smiled at him coyly and put her arms around him, whispering into his ear,

"Thank you."

When they drew apart, Draco leaned back in for a kiss to which Hermione responded just as passionately. He gently pushed her down onto her bed and started trailing kisses down her neck while his hands did some exploring, they slipped under the bottom of her blouse and began to make their way slowly up…

Hermione put one of her hands on his to stop him and broke the kiss.

"Draco, I don't think I can do this right now." she said softly.

He didn't answer for a moment and instead exhaled.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for pushing you. I don't want to you to feel uncomfortable about this…I can wait."

"Thank you." she whispered in his ear again.

He smiled lightly at her and then rolled over to lie beside her.

"Yeah anyway I should probably get going, it's getting late." Draco remarked, looking at his watch.

"Hey, actually…you can stay here tonight if you want." Hermione replied quietly, looking at him shyly.

"But I thought you didn't want -"

"Well you're welcome to as long as you don't try anything. It _is _getting late and I don't want you to get caught breaking curfew." She clarified, giving him a small smile.

"Okay, if you insist." he smirked again, and put his arms around her, drawing her closer to him, "Relax, I'm still going to be a gentleman tonight."

She smiled and gave him a peck on the cheek before closing her eyes.

Then they both drifted off to sleep, Hermione feeling safe in his arms and relieved that he wasn't afraid to be seen with her and Draco feeling glad that he was with her at all, but slightly apprehensive about what his decision would bring…

**A/N: **Hehe another sort of cliffhanger! Sorry about the relative shortness of this chapter and as promised it was filled with more action than the previous one. Thanks again for all your reviews guys! It was a great response considering I hadn't updated for awhile so thanks for continuing to support me!

Here are some replies to my reviewers:

**Chocolatlvr16: **Yes Blaise is supposedly dangerous to Hermione, as was discussed in this chapter but he actually likes her so that's a different story. Thanks for your review!

**xX'.M-G-A.'Xx**Thanks so much reviewing! I agree that in most stories Draco drinks and something happens and so it wasn't exactly the most original idea to put into the story but at the same time I needed something to push Draco to express his true feelings because honestly, if he wasn't under the influence of alcohol, would he really do it? By the way, I spelt all my 'okays' correctly this time! Thanks for the tip.

**I3aI3ygurl**Hi! I'm sorry the last chapter was a bit short but the ending was a good place to end so yeah and it was the same with this chapter so I'm sorry again! Yeah I'm thinking of ending the story at Chapter 30 so really there's only four chapters left to go…hopefully you'll all stick around for that. Thanks heaps for your review!

**xOxOkIsSmYaSsXoXo: **Hey thanks for your review, yeah I agree that Harry and Ron will be absolutely shocked at finding out that its Draco Malfoy and I cant wait to write that chapter! Hehe.

**Weaselbee**: Thank you for your review, especially for your compliment about not making Draco Head Boy - I decided that I would make Harry Head Boy for this story because I was so sick of reading stories where Hermione is Head Girl and Draco is Head Boy and they get together.

**Bananaz the Sugar Monkey**Hey thanks for your review, sorry for making the bitch of story have the same name as you! Hope you're enjoying the story anyway!

**foxeran**Thanks for your review, it was full of constructive criticism (I think that's the phrase) and I'm sorry if that's how Hermione comes off as to you but I've tried my best to keep the characters in character for this story. And about the story feeling drawn out, I kind of agree because I originally intended it to be a 20 chapter story about their time travelling experience but I don't know how it morphed into a school drama, but I'm going to end it in a few chapters time so I hope you'll still stick around for the end.

**perfectlyfakereality**Thanks for reviewing, read on and you'll find out when and how they will all find out about them!

**xx Kyani**Wow what a lovely review to read! Thanks so much for it, it really motivated me to update soon and add some romance in. Hope you liked this chapter!

**HgBookworm**Hey! Thanks for your continued support - I can always count on a decent review from you every chapter and that really cheers me up.

**Babiblue754**Haha hopefully this chapter satisfied you a bit more than the last, and yes I agree that Ginny was so annoying last chapter but would you be suspicious (not to mention jealous) if your friend was seeing Draco Malfoy? Hehe, thanks for the review.

**Flavagurl**Haha wow what a reaction! Yeah I feel sorry for Hermione, as in all stories where she gets together with Draco because most of the time her friends don't support her…hmm…I wonder how its going to be for this story? Haha ok no more shameless promotion for the story, thanks so much for your review!


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

Bright beams of sunlight streamed through the open window of the Head Girl's room and shone onto Hermione's face. She slowly awoke, stretching languidly and clutched her warm toasty quilt closer to her body in an effort to protect herself against the chilliness of the winter's morning.

She turned her head and saw Draco, still fast asleep, his silvery blond hair scattered like a halo on the pillow. She smiled and reflected again on how lucky she was to have been given a second chance with him.

As she lay, watching him sleep, she thought about their decision to go public with their relationship. She had been so relieved that he had agreed to it because she had been worried that he was ashamed of being with her, but he had reassured her that _that _wasn't the reason that he wanted to keep the relationship a secret.

Hermione wondered exactly how they were going to announce it to the school…perhaps at breakfast this morning? No it was way too abrupt and too bold. Maybe they should try lunch, or dinner…actually, hang on, what on earth was she thinking! She had this crazy image of her and Draco walking up to the professors' table in the Great Hall and calling for silence. Then she could imagine announcing in her bossy 'Head Girl's' voice - "I'm dating Draco Malfoy!"

She shook her head. That was definitely not going to happen.

But how else could they make everyone aware of their relationship apart from telling them?

They could just turn up to breakfast together, holding hands and all that but she didn't want rumours to start - she just wanted to tell everyone that they were seeing each other, and that they were happy together, pure and simple.

Hermione brainstormed for a while longer, until she finally came up with a wonderful idea…

Beside her on the bed, Draco's eyes fluttered open and he turned blearily to her.

"Morning, Hermione." he murmured, pulling her close to him.

"Morning, Draco! I've just had the best idea for how we can go public!" Hermione answered brightly.

"What?" Draco responded drowsily.

"Well, the Yule Ball is coming up in a couple of weeks and we can go together." She suggested with a small smile.

"Are you serious?" Draco asked, frowning.

"How else can we do it? I've thought about it already and its really the only plausible way to show the school without being too abrupt." Hermione replied.

"Can't we just…I don't know, turn up to breakfast this morning together? Why does it have to be the Yule Ball? I absolutely detest that event, ever since I had to go with Pansy in fourth year, I've dreaded going." Draco groaned.

"Come on, Draco. There really is no better way to do it - turning up to breakfast together is definitely too abrupt and people will be gossiping away all day about it. At least at the Yule Ball I'll be able to formally announce it and stop people from gossiping, and we'll be able to show that we're really a couple." Hermione reasoned.

"Well if you're so set on this, I guess there's nothing I can do about it." Draco sighed.

"Seriously, it's better this way. I know it means that we'll have to still see each other in secret until then, but at least we'll be properly together by Christmas right? And besides, it means I'll have a proper date for the Ball, instead of having to wait for Neville to ask me to go with him or something." Hermione joked.

"Yes, Longbottom definitely doesn't deserve you." Draco responded, giving her an affectionate peck on the cheek.

Hermione was about to respond but was unfortunately cut off by Harry, who was hammering on her door again.

"HERMIONE! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR CLASS AGAIN!"

She turned to Draco, who rolled his eyes.

"Sorry but it looks like we have to finish this conversation later. You better go now." Hermione whispered, kissing him quickly before pushing him towards his broomstick, which was leaning against her wardrobe.

She grabbed her bathrobe and walked to her window, where Draco was preparing to fly back to his dormitory.

"See you later." She said softly, letting him envelope her in his arms. Then he climbed onto his broomstick and hovered next to her window.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me stay last night…I really enjoyed it." Draco replied, grinning, "Maybe we can do it again tonight?"

"We'll see." Hermione replied with a smile, "I'll meet you in the library after dinner and we'll discuss what to do okay?"

"Okay. See you tonight." Draco said, kicking off from the window ledge and disappearing around the tower.

"HERMIONE!" Harry yelled, resuming his pounding on the door.

"HARRY ITS OKAY! I'M AWAKE!" Hermione yelled back at him.

"So can you open the door? I want to talk to you." He replied, knocking.

She obliged, striding to her door and throwing it open.

"Morning. What do you want to talk about?" Hermione asked bluntly, still a bit annoyed that he had interrupted her conversation with Draco.

"Um, well firstly I want to ask…er…was there someone here last night?" Harry asked.

"What?" Hermione replied with a frown.

"Its just that I swear I heard you talking to somebody and this morning I heard you talking to them again faintly, and I looked at the clock and realised that you had overslept _again._ Do you want to tell me what's going on, Hermione?" Harry said, frowning at her as well.

Hermione sighed.

"Okay fine, I wont lie to you. There _was _someone here last night…but its not what you think."

Harry's eyes widened and he gulped.

"Was it _him?_" he asked slowly.

"Yes, Harry." Hermione replied, smiling in spite of herself at Harry's reaction.

"Oh god, Mione. Did you do anything stupid?" he asked breathlessly.

"Harry! I just told you that its not what you think! We didn't do anything!" Hermione said shrilly.

"Oh thank god, I was so worried that you know…" He trailed off, "Yes anyway, I suppose things are going well between you two now?"

"Yes they are. In fact, he agreed to go public last night." Hermione smiled.

"Really! Wow that's great, Hermione. I'm so happy for you…and for me - I'll finally find out who this mystery guy is." Harry chuckled.

Hermione shook her head and laughed along with him, thinking about how shocked he and Ron would be when they found out that she was seeing Draco Malfoy…

---

Harry and Hermione went down to breakfast together, though the Great Hall was almost empty since they were so late. They walked towards the Gryffindor table, where Ron was still sitting with Seamus. They seemed to be in the middle of a pancake eating contest and Ron was clearly in the lead. As Harry laughed at them, Hermione took the chance to scan the rest of the Hall and found Draco eating his breakfast by himself at the Slytherin table.

He saw her looking at him and winked at her. She smiled but then tilted her head towards Harry, letting Draco know that he shouldn't be taking risks like that in front of Harry and everyone else.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry asked suddenly, turning back to look at her only to see her with her head tilted towards him and staring at some unknown person.

"Nothing…" Hermione stammered, putting her hand to her neck and pretending to massage it, "I think I slept on my neck funny. It kind of hurts."

Harry gave her a narrow look, as though trying to figure out whether she was lying to him again or not. She seemed to pass the test.

"Well maybe you should get your mystery guy to massage it for you next time you meet up." Harry smirked.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and swatted him playfully on the arm. They had finally arrived at the Gryffindor table and they took their places next to Ron and Seamus. On the other side of the Hall, Draco had finished his breakfast and he was leaving through the doors and as though he could feel Hermione's eyes on him, he turned around and gave her one last meaningful look before disappearing out the doors.

---

Hermione had to sit through Charms and endure Care of Magical Creatures before getting to see Draco again during lunch. She was sitting next to Ginny and they were talking about the latest rumour - that the reason that Pansy Parkinson hadn't turned up to class lately was because she had done a botched Beauty Enhancement Charm on herself and she was currently noseless as a result.

Unexpectedly, her conversation was interrupted by a charmed paper aeroplane hitting her on the back of her head. As she rubbed her head, wondering who on earth would send her a paper aeroplane, Ginny was already unfolding the paper and reading the contents of it.

"What does it say, Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"Well maybe you'd like to read it yourself, Hermione." Ginny replied, handing her the paper.

_Hermione,_

_I'm missing you already…I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all morning. I can't wait until we see each other again. Anyway, I was wondering if you'll be my date to the Yule Ball…I know we've discussed this already but I felt that I should ask you formally. _

_Tell me your answer when we next meet._

_Love from your secret admirer._

Hermione was blushing a furious shade of red by the end of the letter - who would've thought Draco Malfoy could be such a romantic? She had to admit that she was very surprised and flattered that he was bothering with these 'secret admirer' letters but wasn't he making it a _bit _too public? She didn't want people to know that she was seeing someone until the Yule Ball but she couldn't help but feel flattered by the attention anyway.

"So Hermione…who is this secret admirer of yours?" Lavender asked, reading the letter over her shoulder.

"Hermione has a secret admirer!" Parvati gushed, coming over to join Lavender.

"Yes…apparently I do." Hermione replied with a tired smile - those girls could smell juicy gossip from a mile away.

"Wow how romantic! I wish I had a secret admirer! Ron's never been _that _sweet to me before - I'm so jealous." Parvati continued to gush.

"Hey, that's my brother you're talking about." Ginny interjected with a grin.

"Sorry Ginny, I tend to forget you guys are related." Parvati apologised.

"That's alright. Anyway, Hermione…do you know who this secret admirer is? Is it the same person you said you were unofficially dating last time?" Ginny asked bluntly.

Hermione shot her a look of shock. Ginny looked calmly back at her. Lavender and Parvati let out gasps of disbelief.

"Are you seeing someone at the moment, Hermione!" They asked in unison.

"Well not officially…" Hermione answered, still shocked that Ginny had told the two biggest gossips in the school that she was seeing someone.

"Yes but you _are _seeing someone right?" Lavender asked.

"Sort of." Hermione clarified.

"Oh my god! Congratulations! Who's the lucky boy?" Lavender prattled.

"I can't tell you yet…its still a secret." she said.

"Right, of course. Well don't worry, Hermione…me and Parv definitely wont tell anyone!" Lavender assured her, though Hermione knew that the moment she and Parvati left Hermione's sight they would be spreading the rumour around the school.

Once the pair had left, presumably to start spreading the rumour, Hermione turned angrily to Ginny.

"What was that for, Ginny?" she asked in a low voice.

"What was what for?" Ginny responded.

"You know what I'm talking about. How could you tell Lavender and Parvati that I'm seeing someone! You _know _that we want to keep it secret and you ruined that by telling the two biggest gossips about our relationship!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I think its about time that everyone found out about your relationship with him." Ginny replied.

"Since when did you have the power to decide that?" Hermione asked angrily.

"Since I realised that you had betrayed us by going out with Draco Malfoy." Ginny murmured.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"W-What did you say?" she stammered.

"Hermione, just admit it. There's no use in lying to me - I can see right through you. I didn't want to judge you when I realised, but I hate how you're not telling Harry and Ron, and I think that they definitely deserve to know." said Ginny.

"Ginny, I _was _planning to tell them. I wanted to go public about it earlier, but Draco didn't want to at first. But now he's agreed and we were planning to announce it at the Yule Ball - that's why he was asking me to be his date for it." Hermione explained.

"Oh. God…I feel like such an idiot. I'm so sorry for ruining it for you…do you think you'll be able to keep the situation under control until the Yule Ball?" Ginny replied.

"Hopefully. We'll just have to find new ways to sneak around." Hermione answered with a small smile.

"I'll keep your secret for you, but you have to promise me that you wont back out at the last minute at the Yule Ball. You _have _to tell Harry and Ron about it at least." Ginny stated.

"I know. Don't worry Gin, they already know I'm seeing someone…they just don't know who it is yet."

"Yes but that's going to be the hardest part to tell them." Ginny said sagely.

"I know, Gin, I know." Hermione sighed.

As she said that, she felt Draco's eyes on her and she turned and caught his eye and smiled. Then she looked away, glancing instead at her two best friends who were sitting next to Ginny, joking around as usual. As she watched them laugh, she felt the horrible feeling of apprehension come over her as she imagined their reactions when she told them about Draco…and she thought to herself, was he really worth the risk of losing her two best friends?

---

**A/N:** Well that's another chapter closer to the end we go and I promise you all that I still have one last twist coming up…so stay tuned for it! Thanks for all your reviews, they definitely gave me the motivation to write this chapter - so keep it up, don't fail me now!

Here are the replies to the reviews:

**Ehlonna**: this chapter answered your question I think…hope you enjoyed it!

**FaeRie Fire** lol read on and you'll find out what Blaise will do…

**ElvinJewel14**Wow indeed! Your review was so wonderful to read and it made me so happy that you think that this story is original and not cliched - which was what I was trying to achieve when I first started writing this. Thank you so much for your review, and I hope that you enjoyed the chapter!

**Lady-Delphinea: **Hehe, hi! Thanks for your review! As I said before, if you keep reading, you'll find out exactly what's in store for Hermione and Draco when their friends find out…

**Alanpatty07: **Thanks for your review, you'll find out the consequences of them going public soon - sorry for drawing it out!

**losangeleschick**lol glad that you like all the drama - I think that it makes the story much more realistic. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**I3aI3ygurl**Sorry I forgot to email you about the beta thingo - I don't actually have a beta reader…never had. Do you think that I need one? Thanks for your review.

**padfootedmoony**haha I cant wait till they go public either…I'm looking forward to writing it! Lol thanks for your review!

**xx Kyani**Thank you sooo much for your review! It was really great to read - lol I didn't realise that I've been writing this story for about a year…I just update when I have the time really and take it chapter by chapter.

**Babiblue754**Thanks for your review - jealousy is coming up in the next chapter!

**Steph: **Haha wow another amazing review to read…I felt so flattered by it! Hopefully you liked this chapter - and btw I should probably warn you not to read Never Say Never…its…not that good lol. Thanks heaps for your review!

**My-Chemical-Romance-Fan: **Yay! I'm so happy that you got hooked…I never thought that people would like my story this much…thanks for your review!

**foxeran**whoa that was a very long review - your life does sound pretty dramatic actually. Lol anyways, thanks for your review, it was verrrry detailed and constructive. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

**londonmalfoy**haha I agree that all good stories have to have some angst and drama to make it more realistic - hope you enjoyed this chapter then!

**Monday Mornings**Hahaha yes I guess Draco was very sensible in the last chapter and now he's romantic…hope that you liked that! Thanks for your review!

**Mandie/POTTEROX: **Sorry for leaving you hanging like that, I know it was evil…but I couldn't help it! Hopefully this longer chapter made up for it!

**HgBookworm**Read on to find out what Blaise and Pansy do…hehe. Thanks for your review (as usual!)

**degrassichick**Thanks for your review! I love it when I get reviews from new or silent readers.

**mysteriouscharm**Hm…yes they're going to go public…I'm not going to tell you whether you're on the right track or not about the consequences though! Thanks for reviewing!

**Flavagurl**Haha, don't worry, guys are overrated…just wait until you find THAT special guy, don't bother about the rest. Lol, thanks for your review!

**xXWitchXx**Hope I updated soon enough for you! Thanks for your review


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Chapter Twenty Eight**

That night after dinner, Draco walked slowly to the library and waited in a corner near the back where they would usually meet up. He glanced at his watch - she was a little bit late, but she was probably being held up by Potter or Weasley.

God, he wished that she would come soon - like he had said in his letter that morning, he missed her so much already and couldn't stop thinking about her all day. He hated having to see her and not being able to do anything with her in public. She was right, their relationship was definitely suffering by keeping it a secret.

He looked around and saw that there was hardly anybody in the library, which was perfect since he needed to draft his next love letter paper aeroplane to Hermione. He grimaced, he had never thought he'd fall to this level in a relationship considering he _was _a Malfoy but as people say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Draco decided that morning that he needed to do something as Hermione's 'secret admirer' that would put everyone off his trail - and what better way to do that than to act like a romantic idiot, hopelessly in love with the Head Girl? _Nobody _would suspect that he, Draco Malfoy, the high and mighty Slytherin was the actual author of those cheesy letters.

It was quite an ingenious idea in fact.

Now to the matter at hand that he needed to discuss with her…this Yule Ball idea. He really did detest the event and usually tried to avoid going considering his only option for a date was Pansy and he had been there and done that and had definitely not enjoyed it. He vaguely remembered seeing Hermione at the first Yule Ball in her pretty periwinkle blue robes and being impressed at the fact that when she actually tried, she was gorgeous.

He smirked.

Who would've thought that three years down the track he'd be dating her?

As if on cue, the object of his thoughts came at him from behind and wrapped her arms around him.

"Guess who." She whispered into his ear.

"Pansy, perhaps?" Draco joked, turning around to face her.

Hermione groaned.

"Draco! I don't sound like her at all - how could you even think of confusing me with that high pitched pug?"

"Hey, don't get so worked up. I was just joking - Pansy is definitely in a league of her own when it comes to annoyingness." Draco assured her, putting his arms around her.

"Mmm indeed. So where do you want to go tonight?" Hermione asked quietly.

"I wouldn't mind taking another trip to your glorious room." he suggested, giving her a meaningful look. She rolled her eyes at him.

"Well like I said last night, you're welcome to go as long as you don't try anything. Actually I think my room would be the safest place for us to be together - Lavender and Parvati found out that I was seeing someone and you know how they are, half the school probably knows about it by now. So I don't want to risk being seen by anyone." Hermione told him.

"Excellent." Draco murmured.

"Draco, don't you care that we could be followed now that people know that I'm seeing someone? I want to keep this private until the Yule Ball…" said Hermione indignantly.

"No I don't really care, since it means that we'll be spending all our time in your room now." He grinned.

"Fine, I'll go now then. See you soon."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then looked around for possible spies before leaving the corner of the library. As always, Draco knew to leave ten minutes after her so as not to arouse anyone's suspicions and he made his way to his dormitory to pick up his broomstick so that he could fly to Hermione's room.

When he arrived, she was already lounging around on her bed reading a book called _Hogwarts: Secrets Uncovered . _She regarded him, hovering next to her window with her big chocolate brown eyes and smiled.

"What are you waiting for? Come in." she said coyly.

He obliged, setting his broomstick next to her wardrobe and taking off his Slytherin cloak and draping it on one of her hangers.

"Have you already locked everything?" He asked her softly.

Hermione nodded, leaning back on her bed.

He smirked.

"Great…"

He walked slowly towards her bed and lay himself down next to her. His eyes roamed her face before finally dipping his head and brushing his lips gently against hers. Hermione responded just as tenderly, her book dropping from out of her hands and she put them instead on his face, feeling his smooth skin and chiselled features. Draco smiled against her hands and pulled her closer to him, bringing their bodies into contact with each other as their kisses became more passionate and heated.

They lost themselves in exploring each other's bodies and senses, feeling at ease with the fact that behind closed doors - nothing could stop them being together.

Unfortunately for them, neither noticed the person who had been watching them with barely concealed anger and disgust from the shadows, fly away on a broomstick just as fine as Draco's - they continued on with their activities, blissfully unaware that even their sanctuary from the world had been violated and that come the next day, they were in for a rude surprise…

---

When Hermione awoke the next morning, feeling refreshed and just _happy _in general, two unexpected things dawned on her. Firstly, as she glanced at her clock, she was surprised to find that she was actually _not _late for her classes this morning. The second thing was that she was alone in her toasty four poster bed - Draco had left early this time.

Instead, on her pillow there was a note from him, scrawled in that beautifully refined handwriting of his.

_Hermione,_

_I thought it was best if I left earlier today so that Potter doesn't get suspicious of you again. Sorry for leaving you to wake up on your own - I'll make it up to you someday, I promise._

_I really enjoyed being with you last night…we should definitely do that more often. Anyway, do you mind if I just come to your room straight away tonight instead of meeting up in the library? _

_Can't wait till I see you again._

_Draco_

Hermione smiled, blushing even though it was only a note. Draco had a way of making her feel embarrassed about the smallest things, even when he wasn't actually there. She got out of bed and put on her bathrobe and then walked over to her desk to write a reply to him.

_Draco,_

_It's okay, I know you wouldn't leave me here to wake up on my own if you had a choice right? Anyway, yes it's a good idea for you to just come over straight away…so I'll see you tonight._

Hermione hesitated before signing off the letter with:

_Love,_

_Hermione_

Luckily for her, she knew that Harry had scheduled Quidditch practice for the Gryffindor team for early that morning since their match with Ravenclaw was coming up soon, so she felt no qualms about sneaking into his room to get Hedwig.

Once she was in Harry's room, she made a beeline for Hedwig's cage and tied the letter securely to the snowy owl's leg. But when she told it to take the letter to Draco, it gave her a reproachful look and clawed her hand as it took off.

Hermione looked at the shallow scratches on her hand and sighed.

It seemed that everyone, including their pets, was against her being with Draco.

---

Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall and found that Harry, Ron _and _Draco hadn't turned up for breakfast yet.

"Morning Ginny." She greeted, sitting down next to the redhead.

"Morning, Hermione. How's everything going?" Ginny asked, sipping her pumpkin juice.

"Very well…everything's under control." Hermione replied with a smile and Ginny beamed back at her.

"That's great to hear then. I'm still really sorry about telling Lavender and Parvati about you and…him."

"It's okay, Ginny. Don't worry about it - like I said before, everything's under control." Hermione reassured her.

As soon as those words left her mouth, Hermione felt a sense of déjà vu as another paper aeroplane hit her on the back of her head.

"Oh, another one." Ginny remarked with a twinkle in her eye.

Hermione laughed, wondering how Draco had sent it since he wasn't down for breakfast yet. She opened the paper up quickly, wondering what he had to say this time…

_Hermione,_

_I know your dirty little secret. _

_I know what you have been doing behind everybody else's backs and it makes me sick. _

_You had better watch out, because soon I'm going to make your life hell._

_Love from,_

_Your other 'secret admirer'_

Hermione's hands were shaking as she read the letter and she could swear she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she realised the implications - someone had been spying on her and Draco last night…

She dropped the letter onto the table and looked frantically around at the people who were in the Great Hall. It _had _to be one of them…

She didn't know whether or not to take the letter seriously…it could possibly just be someone playing a cruel prank on her or something. The world whirled around her as she struggled to get her thoughts straight - somebody else _knew_ about them…

"Hermione…w-what is this?" Ginny stammered, after reading the letter for herself.

"I'd say that it's a threat." Hermione replied softly, her eyes anxiously scanning the packed Hall for possible authors of the letter.

"Are you scared?" asked Ginny quietly, taking her hand.

"A little. I'm just hoping that it's all just a joke." she replied with a nervous smile.

"Yeah I hope so too but Hermione, I have to admit that I don't think that this is just a joke…" Ginny muttered.

Hermione gulped and took a deep breath to calm herself down. She decided that she needed to find Draco. Now.

"Gin, I'm going to go and find him." She announced to her friend.

"Good idea. But please, be careful, Mione." Ginny replied.

Hermione nodded and left in search of Draco.

She didn't have to go far to find him, he was on his way to breakfast from the Slytherin dungeons and she was on her way to the dungeons from breakfast, so they found each other halfway. Fortunately for them, the corridors were deserted as all students were at the Great Hall having their breakfasts by this time.

"Draco! Oh god, I need to talk to you." She burst out as soon as she saw him, running towards him.

"Oh, whoa what's this about, Hermione." He responded as she put her arms him in a tight hug, "Aren't you worried that someone's going to see us?"

"It's a bit too late for that, Draco. Someone already has." Hermione said lowly, breathing heavily.

"What?"

"Someone was watching us last night." She repeated.

"WHAT!" Draco exclaimed, "How do you know?"

"Because someone sent me a letter. Here, read it." Hermione replied, shoving the letter into his hands.

He read it and his eyes widened in shock.

"W-what…who could it be?" Draco asked slowly.

"I don't know. But they've achieved their purpose - I'm scared as hell about this now, Draco. I'm so worried about what's going to happen." Hermione whispered, hugging him tighter.

"Hey, don't worry, you've still got me. I'm here to protect you, like Potty and the Weasel have done for you over the last six years." Draco assured her, kissing her on the forehead.

"Thank you. I-I really don't want anything to happen to us…I don't think I can bear to lose you now." Hermione stammered.

"You wont lose me. We're in this together now, and I promise you that I'll find out who wrote this. And I promise you that when I'm done with them, they'll wish that they had never spied on us in the first place." Draco stated firmly, "Everything's going to be okay."

Hermione looked up at him and tried to relax, hearing his reassuring words of comfort. But she remembered the chilling feeling that she had felt as she read the letter and somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice was telling her that this letter was a manifestation of something more complex and more dangerous than mere disgust…

---

**A/N: **Okay, don't chuck rotten tomatoes at me for introducing this twist so late into the story! I only put it on because of your reviews - something along the lines of _'it would be so much more dramatic if the letters weren't from Draco'_ . So there you have it folks, a new dramatic twist to the story. Actually I originally planned for this chapter to be the Yule Ball chapter, but I suppose the twist kinda took over so yes please stay tuned for the upcoming chapter which will definitely feature the long-awaited YULE BALL!

Oh yeah and thank you all for your support and wonderful reviews!

Happy reading!


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine Part One

**Chapter Twenty Nine - Part One**

A week had passed since Hermione had received _that _letter at breakfast.

Draco had been keeping an eye out for possible spies everywhere he went and he felt a bit disturbed by the fact that sometimes he would actually catch a glimpse of a shadow tailing him when he went to meet up with Hermione in her room.

He didn't tell her about this because he didn't want her to get panicked about the situation seeing as nothing horrible had happened to either of them yet, but he would still make sure that everything was locked and secure when he got to her room - just in case.

He had a feeling that whoever it was, they were just biding their time until they set their plan into action.

Draco never showed his anxiety about this in front of Hermione because he knew that he had to be strong for her otherwise they would never get through this smoothly, and with the Yule Ball coming up so soon, he just wanted everything to be normal between them - he didn't want the added burden of knowing that at any moment someone could be spying on them.

So he kept quiet about it and they went about their usual business, until one night when he was in her room and they were talking…

"So are you going to the Hogsmeade trip this weekend?" Draco asked lazily.

"Of course I am, I still haven't gotten my dress robes for the Yule Ball yet." Hermione replied, laying her head on his chest and feeling comforted by the steady beating of his heart.

"I don't know if I should go - I don't really need to get anything and I've got no friends to go with either." Draco mused, stroking Hermione's soft, curly hair absently.

"Well you've got me." She responded with a small smile.

"Hmm yes I do, but I don't think Potter or Weasley would be too happy with me joining your cosy little group." He drawled.

"Okay fine then, don't go. I wont miss you." Hermione joked, mock-pouting.

"Hey, don't say that! I _was_ considering going because I'm worried that if I'm not there to look out for you…something may happen." Draco finished off softly.

Immediately he wished that he hadn't said that.

It was like a bucket of ice cold water had been poured over them, bringing them back to the harsh reality that yes, there _was _someone out there spying on them and waiting for the perfect opportunity to hurt them.

There was a pregnant pause, during which Hermione moved away from Draco, sitting instead on the side of the bed, silently lost in thought. He broke the awkward silence first.

"Hermione, I didn't mean for it to sound that way…everything's still going to be fine. I'm just being melodramatic. Don't worry about it." Draco tried to say bracingly, and he moved to put his arms around her.

She shrugged his arms off, sitting rigidly.

"You're right, Draco. It's only a matter of time before something happens to us. Maybe it's better if we don't see each other." Hermione murmured.

"What? No, that's not what I wanted at all! Hermione, I want to see you because I'm afraid that if I'm not with you - something terrible might happen to you. I want to be the one protecting you because I'm sorry but I don't really trust those two oafs that you hang around with. By deciding to not see each other anymore, aren't we just giving in to the pressure from whoever's trying to scare us?" Draco burst out heatedly.

"Yeah, but Draco I really don't think we should give them any more opportunities to see us together. I feel so uneasy these days when we're with each other because I know that theycould be watching us…" She replied sadly.

"Hermione -"

"No, I'm serious. There's only a few days left until the Yule Ball anyway, so lets just not see each other until then. Just meet up with me here before it starts." Hermione said solemnly.

Draco gave her a long look, almost as though he was challenging her to change her mind about this but she wouldn't give in. He averted his eyes and fell back onto the bed, feeling weary.

"Fine. If it makes you feel _safer _not having me around, then I'll see you at the Yule Ball." He said shortly.

Hermione turned around with watery eyes and he immediately felt guilty for snapping at her like that.

"Of course I don't feel safer with you gone! But I just don't want anything to happen to us and I think that something is more likely to happen if we're together all the time, so please just understand that I'm doing this for our own sakes." she said quietly.

They sat in silence for awhile, both contemplating their situation.

"Okay, lets not see each other until the Yule Ball then." Draco agreed finally.

"I'll miss you." Hermione whispered in response.

"Me too. But its for the best, right?" He replied with a crooked smile.

She moved back to her original spot and laid her head back onto his chest, taking comfort in his steadily beating heart for the last time for awhile. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, watching the wind blowing outside the window - his eyes widening as he saw an outline of someone flying away swiftly on a broomstick and disappearing around the corner…

---

So for the next couple of days they kept to their pact, they spent their nights away from each other and to Draco's relief - he stopped seeing shadows tailing him. Time passed slowly for them both and the Hogsmeade weekend finally rolled around.

Draco decided to go, even though he would be alone because he wanted to keep an eye on Hermione but also because he had barely seen her since the last night they had been together and he missed seeing her. They only had two classes together - Potions and Care of Magical Creatures and she avoided him like the plague during those lessons, refusing even to meet his gaze.

He watched her as she entered the foyer with Potter, Weasley and the little Weasley, ready for the trip to Hogsmeade. Her eyes flicked in his direction but again she didn't meet his gaze even though he was sure she knew he was looking at her.

Draco sighed.

Who would've known that being given the silent treatment by Hermione Granger would be so hard?

---

Snow fluttered all around the students when they arrived at Hogsmeade, and they all split up into their separate groups and went on their ways. From the corner of her eye, Hermione observed Draco, who was walking a few metres away from her, Harry, Ron and Ginny. She hadn't looked at him properly for days, afraid that whoever was watching them would catch her glancing at him once in awhile and also she didn't want to give the rest of the school too much of a hint as to who her unofficial boyfriend was yet.

But she was pretty much at the end of her tether by now, and so she sneaked a fleeting look in his direction. He looked kind of tired, but that did nothing to detract from his good looks since he still strutted when he walked, radiating arrogance and superiority - however, little snowflakes had settled in his already silvery-blond hair and they made him seem less intimidating than he usually did. He was wearing a dark grey scarf that complimented his eyes nicely and was wrapped up in an expensive-looking thick black cloak, held together with a shiny Slytherin clasp.

He turned and his stormy grey eyes met her chocolate brown ones for a moment.

Hermione felt herself take a sharp intake of air - she felt as though she had been hit in the stomach by the sudden rush of longing that came over her…she really _missed _him. She had tried to concentrate on other things to help herself get through the next few days of not seeing him and combined with effectively avoiding him and his eyes every time they were in sight of each other, she had succeeded in blocking him out of her life temporarily.

But god, when he looked at her like that…she just couldn't help but want to be with him again, just like before.

She had half a mind to run up to him and kiss him senseless, but she knew she could never do that, not when everyone was around and not when the Yule Ball was in two days - only two more days until she could finally be with him freely without worrying what other people thought of them. Hermione dragged her eyes away from his reluctantly, and turned to Ginny, who was walking next to her and looking at her with a curious expression.

"It must be hard for you both." Ginny commented gently.

Hermione nodded, "Yes it is, Gin. I think its hurting us both to act like this around each other, but what choice do we have?"

"Don't worry, Hermione. The Yule Ball's only in two days and then you guys wont have to worry about being together in public right?"

"Yeah…only two more days…" Hermione murmured, wondering if she would be able to handle another two days of non-contact with Draco.

---

They arrived back at Hogwarts after their shopping trip at Hogsmeade all red-faced from the cold wind that they had braved outside and their clothes were speckled with snowflakes.

"C'mon Hermione, show us what you bought at Gladrags." Ron teased. She had refused to show anyone (except Ginny because she had been there when she had found them) her dress robes for the Yule Ball. She wanted it to be a surprise, but Ron and Harry, as usual, were too impatient to wait until then to find out.

"Yeah why are you being so secretive about it, Mione? We're your best friends." Harry added, pouting slightly.

"Oh go away, you two! Just wait until the Yule Ball and you'll see." Hermione said irritably.

"Fine we'll ask Ginny then." Ron announced, turning to his little sister.

"I'm not going to tell you anything - Hermione wants it to be a _surprise._ Look that word up in a dictionary, Ron and you may figure out why she doesn't want to show you what she bought yet." Ginny stated, crossing her arms and giving her brother a smirk.

"Thanks Ginny." Hermione grinned at her and Ginny grinned back.

"Alright, we'd better put our stuff back in our dorms before dinner starts. Let's go back to the Head dorms, Mione." Harry suggested.

So the four of them split up, Ron and Ginny heading off towards Gryffindor Tower while Harry and Hermione made their way up to the Head dormitories. On the way, Harry brought up the topic of her mystery guy again.

"So Hermione…when exactly are we going to find out who you're seeing?" he asked slyly.

"Be patient, Harry. You'll find out soon enough." she replied with a small smile.

"Wait that's right - you're going to the Yule Ball with him aren't you?" said Harry.

"Yeah, did I tell you that?" Hermione asked slowly, suddenly getting a strange feeling…

"Oh erm yeah you told me." Harry spluttered in response.

Hermione gave him a suspicious look and he averted his eyes, just like Draco had done the other night…

They had stopped walking and were standing in front of the entrance to the Head Common Room. Harry gave the scholarly lady in the portrait the password _(flitter blossom) _and they entered the Common Room.

"I don't remember telling you that I was going with him to the Yule Ball, Harry." Hermione said in a low voice.

"Don't you?" Harry countered, moving towards his room.

"No, I don't. How did you find out, if it wasn't from me?" Hermione questioned firmly, looking Harry in the eye.

"I can't tell you." He replied finally, going into his room and shutting the door.

Hermione felt slightly shaken by Harry's reaction to her question and slightly apprehensive…could it be that he…no, she couldn't think that way. Just because he didn't want to tell her how he knew about her going to the Yule Ball with Draco didn't mean that he had been the one spying on her, right?

She was still lost in her thoughts when she entered her own room and barely noticed that her window was wide open and her curtains were flapping in the breeze. She set down her shopping bag from Gladrags and was on her way to the bathroom when she stopped dead.

On her pillow was a note.

Just like the note that Draco had written her a week ago…

She went over to her bed and with her hand trembling, she picked it up.

_Hermione,_

_Your pathetic attempt to stop me from spying on you isn't going to stop me from making your life hell. _

_Just because you're not with him doesn't mean that you're safe. _

_This is your last warning._

The author had left it unsigned.

Her heart racing, Hermione set the piece of paper back down on the pillow. Then she realised that it had writing on the back…

_P.S. Check your bag, there's a little surprise waiting for you. _

Hermione flew to where her bag was sitting next to her wardrobe and emptied its contents.

Her dress robes fell out, and Hermione let out a stifled cry.

They had been slashed and ripped all over.

Fortunately they could still be mended with a simple spell and Hermione shakily pulled out her wand and whispered _reparo, _watching her beautiful dress robes fix themselves up seamlessly, but the fact still remained…someone _was _out to get her and Draco…

She looked around, shivering and realised that the window was open. She stood up and closed it but when she went back to pick up her mended dress robes she noticed another note had fallen out of the bag as well:

_This is a taste of what's to come if you stay with him, so watch out._

---

**A/N: **Ohhh spooky! Haha, this is fast becoming some sort of Romance/Angst/Mystery story isn't it? Anyways, I've decided to split this chapter into Part One and Part Two because I promised that the Yule Ball would be in this chapter, but that would mean that this chapter would be about fifteen pages long so I decided to put it up separately, so yeah please stay tuned for **Part Two - the YULE BALL **which is coming up soon!

By the way, could you all tell me if you think I should post **Part Two **as part of this chapter when its finished or as a separate chapter?

Anyways, hope you guys all enjoyed that! Thank you for all your reviews again, they've been so inspiring.


	30. Chapter Twenty Nine Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Nine Part Two**

**A/N: **I'm not going to let the events of HBP affect my story, so this story is still spoiler-free!

The next couple of days passed in a blur for Hermione. She struggled to put the whole episode of the slashed dress robes out of her mind and she found herself looking over her shoulders everywhere she went - but she stubbornly refused to tell anyone about it, not even Draco because she didn't want people to get worried about her. She was confident that if these people wanted to mess with her, being the smartest witch in the year, she would definitely be able to defend herself.

Fortunately, the situation turned out just as it had after she had received the first letter last week and nothing had happened to her so far - she just hoped that her luck wouldn't run out before the Yule Ball.

Hogwarts was in a frenzy on the day of the Yule Ball with girls frantically gossiping and worrying about the details of the Ball that night - but Hermione was too preoccupied with the thought of seeing Draco and being _with _him again after being deprived of him for so long to actually bother joining in with the chit chat.

These past few days had been so tough on both of them. When their eyes accidentally met across the dungeon in Potions, Hermione would bite her lower lip and try to convey all that she wanted to say to him in one meaningful look and sometimes he would chance giving her an affectionate wink in return, but usually his mouth would curve into a small smile although he would turn away soon afterwards, leaving her feeling alone and tired again.

Ginny's bright voice suddenly jerked her out of her thoughts.

"Mione! Can you believe it? It's finally the day of the Yule Ball - and that means its D-day for you and…you know who." Ginny giggled faintly.

Hermione gave her a withering sidelong look in response.

"Thanks for mentioning it, Gin. I mean I completely forgot about it, even with all these girls around me prattling on about it." she muttered sarcastically.

Ginny looked taken aback.

"Geez, Hermione…I was just trying to cheer you up a bit. You've been so quiet and withdrawn towards all of us lately and even though I know why you're acting like this, I still feel like you shouldn't take it out on us." Ginny said softly.

It was Hermione's turn to look shocked.

"What? Ginny, I haven't been taking it out on you guys its just that I've had so much on my mind - today's a really important day for me and the pressure's getting to me I suppose. And it obviously doesn't help to have everyone else harping on about it all day as well…" Hermione said with a sigh.

Ginny put her arms around her friend and gave her a warm hug.

"Its okay, Mione. Everything will be fine after tonight." she assured her.

"I hope so, Gin, I really hope so." Hermione murmured.

---

Meanwhile, Draco was also having problems, having woken up with a headache and someone pounding on his door.

"GO AWAY!" He shouted at whoever it was.

"DRACOO!" wheedled the person on the other side.

Draco groaned.

"IF ITS NOT PANSY, PLEASE GO AWAY. IF IT IS PANSY - GET LOST NOW I'M IN A BAD MOOD." he yelled bluntly, pulling his covers over his head.

"WELL TOO BAD BECAUSE IT IS PANSY AND I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU GET UP AND TALK TO ME!" she yelled back at him.

Draco cursed loudly, over and over but she wouldn't stop hammering his door.

Finally he gave up, haphazardly throwing his Slytherin robe over himself and flinging the door open and glaring down at the petite blonde girl that stood before him.

"What the hell do you want, Pansy?" he ground out.

"I want to know why you still haven't asked me to the Yule Ball! It's on tonight and to my knowledge, you still don't have a date." Pansy replied angrily.

"Well too bad Pansy, because your source of information is unreliable - listen to me carefully as I say this: _I already have a date for the Yule Ball."_ Draco drawled, leaning against the doorframe smugly, surveying Pansy's crestfallen expression.

"You're-you're not serious are you?" she whispered, her eyes wide.

"Dead serious." Draco replied cheerfully.

"But we've gone to every Yule Ball together since fourth year!" She burst out indignantly.

"Then does it surprise you that I'm sick of going with you already?" Draco quipped.

Pansy let out a furious growl and slapped Draco hard across the face.

"Fine. Turn me down now, but you're going to be the one regretting what you've done when I turn up with Blaise as my date instead of you - oh, mark my words you're going to be so jealous." Pansy fumed, turning on her heel and storming off.

Draco let out a dry laugh - she couldn't be any more wrong about that…

---

The rest of the day passed in a blur for everybody and classes were dismissed earlier to allow students to prepare for the Ball taking place that night and Harry and Hermione hurried from Charms to the Head dormitories to get ready.

"So are you nervous about tonight, Mione?" asked Harry.

"A little." she admitted.

"Me and Ron definitely can't wait to find out who it is." Harry remarked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

Hermione forced out a small smile.

"I think you'll be pleasantly surprised." she replied, pushing the door open to her room.

Closing the door behind her, she collapsed onto her bed, realising what a big shock to everyone it would be when she turned up to the Ball with Draco Malfoy as her date. For a moment she actually thought of telling him that they shouldn't do this…it was too rash and so unlike her to actually throw everything to the winds and put herself on the line for a boy.

But she knew it was too late to back out, and she wouldn't want to anyway - this would be the best way to tell everyone about them and besides, she had been waiting for long to be able to be with Draco publicly instead of having to sneak around behind everybody else's backs.

Hermione glanced at the clock on her bedside table which read 4:05 pm and heaved herself reluctantly off the bed. She made her way to her wardrobe and pulled out her dress robes. She fingered the fabric absently as she suddenly had a flashback to that freaky afternoon when she got back from Hogsmeade…

She got distinct shivers down her spine just thinking about it - she had been pushing it out of her mind for so long that now that she was alone, with nothing else to think about, the feeling of apprehension and dread had come back even worse than before.

She shook her head to clear herself of those thoughts and tried to focus on the task at hand - getting herself ready for the Yule Ball. Hermione had almost no idea how to begin - she had so much time on her hands and not that much to do - she wasn't going to perform many elaborate beauty charms on herself or anything.

So she decided to take a shower first.

Unfortunately, she underestimated how long she had spent in the shower and by the time she had gotten out of the shower, the clock had ticked over to about 5:20 and she had barely an hour to get herself ready before Draco arrived…

---

An hour later, Hermione surveyed herself critically in the mirror. She had finally shimmied into her dress robes, which were made of a deep, vibrant shade of red silk and edged with matching creamy beige silk.

It was fitted and flattered her body shape without exposing too much - although the collar dipped into a V, it only revealed her skin until halfway down her chest, which was just enough for her to display the beautiful golden Gryffindor lion necklace that Harry and Ron had bought for her last Christmas.

Hermione glanced at the clock again, slightly impatiently. It read 6:25. The Ball was due to start at 6:45 exactly.

Suddenly there was a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" Hermione called.

"Its Harry." He replied.

She went to open the door and saw Harry wearing a set of sharp navy blue robes, his hair messy as usual but he still looked handsome.

"Looking good, Harry." she commented with a smile.

"You look better, Mione." he responded with a wink, "Whoever you're going with is going to be one lucky boy."

"Thanks." Hermione said softly, reddening slightly.

"So are you ready to go?" Harry asked.

"Um, not exactly…I still have to wait for _him_." Hermione answered.

"Oh. I see, well I guess me and Ron will see you at the Great Hall later then." Harry said tactfully, giving her a hug.

"Alright, have fun with Padma. Oh and don't forget that you and me have to open the Ball, since we're Head Boy and Head Girl." Hermione reminded him.

"As if I could forget." Harry laughed, walking away.

Hermione waved goodbye to her best friend as he disappeared out of the portrait hole, closed her door and sat down to wait for Draco. She glanced again at the clock on her bedside table and was slightly annoyed to find that it was already 6:30 and he hadn't arrived yet.

She began to fidget, causing her hair to fall out from the bun she had put it in. Figuring that she still had a while before Draco would come to pick her up, she stood in front of the mirror and began to rearrange her hair into different hairstyles. She tried putting it into a ponytail, tried making it curly, tried straightening it, but -

"Nothing looks right." Hermione sighed, letting her hair flow as it naturally does, with soft waves.

Then came a voice from behind her.

"Well I think you look absolutely stunning with your hair like that." murmured Draco, right next to her ear.

She jumped slightly at the sudden contact.

"Relax, its just me." He chuckled, placing his arms around her.

Hermione smiled, and checked him out in the mirror - he was wearing a set of steely and silvery grey robes that seemed to imitate the colour and consistency of mercury and they were held together by his customary shiny Slytherin clasp. His hair fell freely around his face instead of being gelled back and his stormy grey eyes twinkled at her in the mirror.

"Like what you see?" he asked smugly.

"Yes, I do." Hermione replied coyly, turning around to hug him properly. She had missed the feeling of his lean body against hers and by the way he was responding to the embrace, he had missed her too.

She stood on tiptoes and brushed her lips chastely against his, taking in his unique scent - a mixture of mint and cologne.

"I've missed you so much." she said softly.

"Mmm, me too." He answered, dipping his head to catch her lips in a more appropriate kiss. They seemed to pour all of their frustrations and longing for each other in the past few days into that one kiss and when they finally pulled away, Hermione was slightly out of breath from the intensity of it all.

"So, ah do you think that we should go down now?" asked Draco after awhile.

"Yeah, everybody else is already down there, so we're pretty much guaranteed a trouble-free walk down to the Hall." Hermione smiled.

"Alright then, after you, gorgeous." Draco opened her door and escorted her out of the dormitories.

They walked in silence down to the Hall, their hands entwined. They were each lost in their own thoughts, but both apprehensive at what their boldness in going public would result in…

The great oak doors leading into the Great Hall were closed - signalling that the Ball was about to begin.

Hermione hesitated with her hand on the doorhandle, her hand trembling slightly.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Hermione?" Draco asked her softly, placing his hand over hers to steady it.

She took a deep breath and turned to him.

"Yes." she whispered back.

"Okay then, this is it." He announced, turning the handle slightly - but Hermione refused to open it fully, still feeling as though she wasn't quite ready for this moment in her life yet…by entering the Hall with Draco, she was throwing away everything she had been fighting for and had believed in for the past seven years…

"Hermione, look at me." Draco ordered, "Listen to me carefully, no matter what happens when we go in there together in a few moments - I'll be here for you. I'm not going anywhere even if the school hates us being together."

She nodded, forcing out a smile.

"I know. Thank you." she murmured, and Draco put his hand on her cheek and stroked it reassuringly.

"Are you ready now?" he asked and she nodded in response.

"Any last words?" he continued pointedly, looking down into her hazel eyes…

Hermione opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it abruptly, thinking that now wasn't the appropriate time for it.

"No, no last words." she said finally, beaming at him.

He took that as a sign that she was ready, and so he turned the handle and pushed the oak doors purposely open, exposing them to the whole school at last.

They stood framed in the door way for a few moments, and the chattering in the Hall ceased as they heard the doors creak open. At first there was silence as the students tried to pinpoint exactly who the couple in red and grey were but when realisation dawned on them - pandemonium broke out.

There were various sounds of shock, disgust and even screeching from the Slytherin table (from Pansy, no doubt) and many people stared at the couple in complete disbelief.

Tentatively, Hermione and Draco made their way to their designated table amid whispers and murmurs and a lot of glaring. They felt acutely uncomfortable at the fact that all eyes were on them, and not in a good way, but they tried to ignore it, walking with their heads held high. When they reached their table, they were faced with the equally thunderstruck expressions of Harry, Ron and their girlfriends. Ginny and Seamus were also there, and though Seamus bore a similar expression to Harry and Ron, Ginny seemed composed and smiled at her encouragingly.

Hermione swallowed once, before taking her seat next to Harry and Draco also sat down next to her, gripping her hand tight in reassurance.

"Hey guys." she greeted them softly.

Silence.

"You-you're seeing _Malfoy_?" Harry exclaimed incredulously when he found his voice. The exclamation seemed to echo around the Hall as there was complete silence now.

Hermione nodded slowly.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Ron burst out in turn, his ears turning red.

"Nothing." she replied bluntly.

"This is some sick joke, isn't it Mione? Tell me this isn't _real." _Harry bit out angrily, glaring at Draco, who glared right back at him.

"Yeah, Mione - tell us what he did to you to make you do this to yourself! Did he feed a love potion to you or Confundus you or Imperius you or something!" Ron snarled nonsensically.

"That's enough, you two! You're supposed to be my friends for god's sake. Can't you respect my decisions?" Hermione cried out in response.

"I think Hermione's right. You should respect her choice - she's free to date whoever she wants to." Ginny put in quietly.

The rest of the table rounded on Ginny instead.

"Oh so now you're on _their _side!" Ron hissed at her.

"No I'm just being rational, Ronald!" Ginny hissed back.

"Ginny, I think you're the irrational one here. Hermione's going out with _Malfoy_! Don't you understand the meaning of that? She's going out with a DEATH EATER!" Harry yelled furiously.

"Potter, you've gone too far there! I am _not _a Death Eater!" Draco bristled, his composure disappearing as he joined in the argument.

"Who cares? Its only a matter of time before you become one anyway!" Harry sneered, "And you're not welcome here so don't even bother voicing your opinions."

"Potter and Malfoy! That is quite enough!" came Professor McGonagall's angry voice as she swooped down on their table.

"You should know better than to cause a scene at the Yule Ball, Head Boy!" She continued her tirade and Harry shut his mouth.

"The Ball is about to officially begin -" she pointed to the oak doors which were creaking open again to reveal Dumbledore, who cast a bemused glance at their table, "So I suggest you and Miss Granger put aside your differences and open the Ball with the first dance."

Hermione and Harry both sullenly stood up, each not meeting each other's eyes as the orchestra struck up a waltz. They walked to the middle of the Hall where an area had been left clear for students to dance and she put her hands on his shoulders, gripping them harder than usual, making him wince slightly. He put his hands on her waist, though trying to keep as much distance between them as possible.

As they danced, Hermione took the opportunity to survey the rest of the school and their reactions. Most were still staring at her in astonishment and she averted her eyes from them. Her eyes met Draco's as she scanned the Hall and he calmly smiled her even though the rest of the table (except Ginny) were giving him looks of deep hatred.

"I can't believe you're doing this to us, Hermione." Harry growled suddenly.

"Oh just get over it, Harry!" Hermione exclaimed wearily.

"You're just throwing away our friendship to be with him, you know?" Harry continued sullenly.

"That's not true! I still want to be friends with you all. Can't you just support me? If you get to know him, he's really not too bad." She reasoned and Harry let out a derisive snort.

"Look, it's not that much of a big deal because Draco's not actually a Death Eater or anything. I mean considering you befriended the only Death Eater in Slytherin at the moment -" Hermione responded in clipped tones.

"What are you on about! I've never befriended a Death Eater!" Harry exclaimed indignantly.

"Does the name Blaise Zabini ring a bell?" Hermione asked pointedly.

Harry stared at her in shock once again, but it was a different look of shock…more like a bomb had been dropped on him.

"You're kidding me. _Blaise_!"

Hermione solemnly nodded as the song came to an end and they stepped away from each other. The school erupted in forced applause as they watched their Head Girl and Head Boy bicker all the way back to their table.

"You have to trust me on this, Harry! I'm not lying!" Hermione said shrilly as they neared their table.

"Well you _are _going out with Malfoy, so I expect that he taught you some of the Slytherins' dirty tricks." Harry scoffed.

"Stop it! You're acting so immature about this! Look we'll discuss this later after the Ball - but please just don't make any more fuss about it. Let the rest of us enjoy the Ball first and then we'll deal with it." Hermione pleaded.

"Look if you expect me to be nice to Malfoy -"

"I'm not expecting that, Harry but please, for my sake, just pretend that its not Malfoy and instead think of him as my date." Hermione suggested.

Harry scowled at her but then nodded.

"Thank you." Hermione said softly as they took their seats.

Draco took her hand again as she sat down and she smiled at him in return.

"Is everything alright now?" he whispered sardonically into her ear.

She rolled her eyes, but said, "No, but don't worry about them for now. I'll deal with them later."

Then their attention was diverted to Dumbledore, who had stood up at the Professors' table at the front of the Hall.

"Thank you, Harry and Hermione for that splendid opening dance. I have rarely seen such talented dancers at Hogwarts," He chuckled to himself, "Now let us tuck in to the scrumptious feast that the house elves have prepared for us and let the Ball begin!"

As usual, the golden plates in front of them suddenly filled up with all different sorts of scrumptious food and as Hermione watched all of her friends tuck into their food, carefully ignoring Draco's presence, she sighed - this was going to be much harder than she had thought it would be.

---

**A/N:** Oh my god! Such a long chapter and the Yule Ball's only just started! Sorry guys, I had to compromise this chapter because I promised that the Yule Ball would be in this chapter (which it was) but if I had continued it, it would've ended up being around 20 pages long so you'll have to wait to the next chapter to find out what happens and I sincerely promise you all that you'll be 'pleasantly surprised'.

Thank you all so much for your support especially my wonderful reviewers (wow, the response to the last chapter was amazing) and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter!

psychohart

P.S. Argh, I was so upset by the events of HBP! How could JK Rowling have done that! But it was a very satisfying read and I'm excited about the final book…so feel free to discuss your theories about HBP with me through your reviews because I'm eager to find out what you guys thought of it.


	31. Chapter Thirty

**Chapter Thirty**

The rest of the dinner passed uneventfully with everybody else at the table still studiously ignoring Draco's presence, though he didn't seem to mind considering he had expected Potter or Weasley to have attempted to duel with him or something - so because they had instead opted to act as though he wasn't there, he was quite content to join in and ignore them right back.

By this time, most of the students had finished their meals and were all getting up to dance. Harry and Ron stood up abruptly after polishing off their meals and they asked their respective girlfriends to dance, and it was only when they had left, Hermione let out a sigh of relief. Draco patted her on the back good-naturedly.

"You shouldn't let them get you down tonight." He said dryly.

"I'm not, it's just that the atmosphere was so tense all throughout dinner." Hermione replied.

"Don't worry, Mione. They'll get over it and everything will be fine again." Ginny assured her optimistically.

"I'm not so sure about that." muttered Seamus darkly, glaring at Draco as he did so.

Draco seemed unaffected by this obvious show of dislike for him and instead he stood up and extended his hand to Hermione.

"Feel like accompanying me on a walk?" He asked her charmingly.

She grinned and took his hand, waving goodbye to Ginny and Seamus as they too departed, leaving the other couple to their hushed argument over their conflicting views on Hermione and Draco's relationship.

---

Once they were outside of the Hall, Hermione visibly relaxed - her shoulders losing their stiffness and her frown disappeared.

"Mmm, this is much better." Draco proclaimed, breathing in the fresh evening air.

The night was clear and crisp and the stars shone bright overhead as they made their way past the various enchanted garden decorations such as an ice sculpture of Merlin that resembled Dumbledore uncannily and past the rose bushes that filled the air with their perfume.

Hermione had no idea where they were going, but strangely enough, Draco seemed to be leading them purposefully to some unknown destination.

"Where exactly are you taking me, Draco?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Shh, be patient. You'll see." He replied with a wink.

She shook her head in response but kept silent until they finally reached a secluded clearing next to the Lake. The water glittered from the moonlight that shone onto it and to her astonishment, it was also unoccupied - they had passed countless couples er…attending to business in various other spots in the garden and so she was surprised to find that such a magical spot had been overlooked.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Draco remarked proudly, seeing her admiring expression.

"Wow, Draco…how did you know about this place?" she asked breathlessly, leaning into his embrace.

"Well, lets just say that it doesn't take a genius to find the way to the Lake." He replied sarcastically. Hermione swatted him playfully on the arm.

"Draco! I'm serious, how did you know the Lake would be so breathtaking at night?" she asked.

"Its erm, a long story." Draco responded evasively.

"Draco." Hermione said warningly.

"Okay, okay. Me and Pansy used to come here to get away from everyone at all the other Yule Balls." He admitted grudgingly, watching Hermione's expression.

She cringed, imagining Pansy in her position and she could feel waves of jealously crashing down on her - that stupid girl had been lucky enough to go to _three _Yule Balls with Draco…

"Hey, don't look so bitter! All that matters is that I'm with you now, not that pug-faced bitch." Draco reassured her, kissing her gently on the cheek.

She smiled, still staring at the Lake.

Suddenly, Draco broke the embrace and turned to her, clutching her hand tightly in his.

"Hermione…you know how I was asking you if you had any last words to say before we went into the Great Hall?" he asked quietly, his eyes gazing deep into hers.

"Yes?" she replied enquiringly.

Draco took a deep breath before saying,

"Well, there was something that I really wanted to say to you…"

Hermione smiled, her curiosity piqued.

"What?"

"Okay, I know that the past couple of days have been hard for you and I just wanted to let you know that they've been just as bad - if not worse for me." He started off, and Hermione nodded, prompting him to continue.

"I also know that this is going to sound incredibly clichéd and cheesy but - not being with you was simply torture. I couldn't stand being so close to you and not being able to express how I felt about you."

Hermione was feeling slightly dizzy and completely overwhelmed by his little speech and as though unsure whether or not he was being serious, she looked into his eyes and saw his sincerity.

Draco was still clutching her hand in his and he was obviously expecting a reply from her - but she was currently unable to form a coherent response to that startlingly romantic confession from him.

"Ergh, um I mean wow…oh my god…that was so…sweet…" she stammered, wincing at her choice of words, "Well sweet's not what I meant, I meant to say -"

But Draco had had enough of her stuttering and pressed his lips to hers to silence her. She gratefully obliged, pouring into the kiss what she couldn't express in words to him and they stood there for awhile, entwined with each other and the rest of the world seemed to disappear around them.

When the kiss finally ended, Draco resumed looking deep into her eyes before he murmured softly into her ear -

"I think I'm in love with you, Hermione Granger."

Hermione's eyes widened as her brain registered what she had just heard.

Her mouth formed an 'o' of surprise and her thoughts became even more mixed up than they had been before but this time, before she was able to make another garbled response, another couple had decided to make an entrance -

Blaise and Pansy strolled lazily into their sanctuary and both wore identical looks of disgust on their faces as they realised whose territory they had invaded.

"Well, if it isn't the Slytherin traitor and his Mudblood bitch." Blaise sneered, his blue eyes flashing at them both.

"Shut up, Blaise." Draco retorted in a low voice as Hermione instinctively clung onto him tighter.

"How could you do this to us, Draco!" Pansy wailed, burying her face into Blaise's shoulder.

"Stop overreacting, Pansy!" He snapped at her.

"How dare you say I'm overreacting!" She yelled back at him, "You're the one that betrayed us all by going out with that filthy cow!"

"Who's talking?" Hermione muttered under her breath.

"Don't you dare insult her, bitch." Draco added threateningly to Pansy.

"I'll do whatever I please." Pansy responded sulkily, staring daggers at Hermione.

"I should've known that it was you that told her about me, Draco." Blaise said suddenly, coming closer to them.

Draco was startled, having forgotten all about the situation with Hermione and Blaise.

"Well you were the one who told her that I was the Death Eater, so I had to set the record straight." He replied indifferently.

"I thought that it was only a matter of time before you were going to join us anyway, Draco. But I see now that you've completely changed your allegiance." Blaise shot back, eerily echoing Harry's words from before.

"So what if I have?" Draco asked boldly.

Blaise eyed his former best friend for a few moments before muttering,

"You're going to pay for all of this, Malfoy."

And then, he turned on his heel to walk away and both he and Pansy soon disappeared from their sight.

Hermione was shocked to find that as a result of that exchange, she was trembling.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Draco concernedly.

"Yes, but its just that when you two were talking, I felt this distinct vibe of…darkness coming from Blaise." She trailed off.

"And?" prompted Draco.

"Well, it just reminded me of the feeling I had gotten whenever I received those 'love letters' from my other secret admirer." Hermione said thoughtfully and she sneaked a glance at Draco to see his reaction.

"Are you suggesting that Blaise has been stalking and threatening us?" he asked finally.

"Its just a hunch…I mean he does have all the motives…" she reasoned.

"You know what, I think you might be right." Draco agreed.

Hermione frowned again.

"I didn't think that he'd resort to this." she whispered.

"I did. He doesn't like being beaten by anyone, especially not me, so I'm not surprised if he _is _behind all this."

They stood in silence for awhile, again both lost in their own thoughts - Hermione feeling weighed down with the fact that what was supposed to be a perfect night had turned out so terribly different and she was still stunned at Draco's confession. On the other hand, Draco was feeling disturbed by Hermione's suspicion that Blaise had been spying on them and he also felt uncomfortable and embarrassed - maybe he shouldn't have admitted his feelings to her so soon…

Before long, the Yule Ball officially ended and they made their way back to the Great Hall holding hands but their thoughts were worlds apart. As they entered, people craned their heads to get a good look at them and Hermione felt so weary of the attention already.

"How long do you think its going to take for them all to get over it?" asked Draco wryly, rolling his eyes.

"A long time." replied Hermione tiredly, putting her head on his shoulder.

Ron and Harry had already left though Parvati and Padma were still in the Hall chatting to their friends, and she presumed that Harry was back at the Head Dorms and that Ron had accompanied him there, where she would see them and they would discuss her relationship with Draco.

"I'm going to go back to my dorm, Draco. Do you want to walk me there?" asked Hermione.

"Sure." Draco replied and they manoeuvred their way through the crowd trying to exit the Hall. Strangely enough though, as soon as the people in the crowd realised who was trying to get through, they parted and a path out of the Hall formed for them as the crowd stared at them partly in fascination and partly in disgust.

They both let out sighs of relief as soon as they were out of sight of the crowd.

"I don't know how we're going to get through this if this is how life's going to be like for us now." said Hermione resignedly.

"Just ignore them. Don't give them anything to talk about and keep your head up high, no matter what they say." Draco advised firmly.

They had arrived back at the Head Dorms and Hermione stood on tiptoe to give Draco a goodnight kiss.

"I'm really glad that we did this tonight." she said softly.

"I know, me too." he replied.

"And now that we know who was behind all of this stalker stuff, I feel much safer because I know who to look out for." she continued.

"Yeah but don't forget what I told you about Blaise - he's much darker than he appears to be." Draco warned.

"Don't worry, Draco. Everything's going to be alright." she assured him.

"Okay, then. Thanks being my date tonight, Hermione." He said mock-courteously. She smiled at him.

"You're welcome. I wouldn't have wanted to spend tonight with anyone else." she answered coyly.

"Me too. So take care alright? I'll pick you up tomorrow morning so we can go to Potions together." He suggested.

"That sounds great…" Hermione nodded and Draco started to walk away, "Hey, wait Draco."

He turned around questioningly.

"Yeah?"

"Um, I just remembered that I never got a chance to respond to what you said to me before Blaise and Pansy came." She blurted out, flushing.

Draco took one look at her reddening face and laughed in spite of himself.

"Don't worry about it. I probably shouldn't have said it so early on anyway, it's going to make things awkward for us isn't it? Just pretend it never happened or something - we can deal with it later when you're ready for it." He said kindly.

"Oh! No, that's not what I meant - wait, what do you mean 'when I'm ready for it'! Are you saying that I'm not ready now?" Hermione asked indignantly.

Draco laughed again, coming back over to where she stood and placing his arms around her in a comforting hug.

"Whether or not you're ready to tell me if you love me or not has nothing to do with how smart you are, Hermione." He said sagely, placing his fingers on her lips when she made an odd spluttering noise. Then he continued,

"This is a completely different matter and I respect that you might not be ready to accept that I'm in love with you - it's better if I give you time to think about what I've said than to demand an answer from you right now. So if you don't want to erase it from your memory, think about it and get back to me about it someday."

Hermione nodded mutely and pecked him on the cheek gratefully again before entering the Head Common room where Ron and Harry were waiting to sort things out with her.

---

Draco sauntered back to the Slytherin common room, apprehensive about what lay in store when he walked in to face his fellow Housemates. He knew that they had probably lost a lot of respect for him now but he didn't give a shit because he had made his decision tonight and nothing could make him change his mind now.

Muttering the password, he slipped into the common room, half-hoping that everyone would've gone back to their respective dorms already.

No such luck.

As soon as he had appeared in the Common room he was swamped by the Slytherins all demanding to know why he, their poster-boy had given up all the privilege and respect that he had commanded within the House.

"Malfoy! How could you betray us all like that!" yelled Malcolm Baddock.

"I can't believe that you'd sink so low and date a Mudblood!" another sixth year joined in.

"What on earth are you thinking, Draco! She's Potter's best friend!" screeched one of Pansy's friends.

The atmosphere in the room was reaching fever pitch and hysterical outbursts were taking place all over the common room until he couldn't even hear what they were screaming at him - it all just melded into cacophony.

"SHUT THE HELL UP ALL OF YOU!" he shouted when he couldn't take it anymore.

His voice resonated all around the room despite the noise and everyone obeyed his wishes, even though some were still seething with anger.

"Look, I know you're all disappointed in me or whatever but I just want you all to know that I don't give a shit what you guys think because I have the freedom to choose whoever I want to be my girlfriend." He started off levelly.

"But why would you choose the Mudblood!" asked a fourth year girl.

"That's none of your business, Mandy." he shot back pointedly, "And for the record, none of you have the right to ask me why I chose to date Hermione Granger either so I suggest that you all shut up about it if you don't want to suffer a painful death and if I catch any of you attempting to harm her I'll personally make your life a living hell."

There was silence after this announcement.

He gave them all one last sweeping glare, feeling like Snape and stormed off to his room where he shut the door and locked it - knowing that there would be at least ten people coming to annoy and question him sometime during the night.

He turned on a light and shrugged off his dress robes, leaving him standing in a crisp white shirt and plain black trousers. He stood in front of his mirror, looking at the person reflected in it and thinking how much his priorities and beliefs had changed over the course of the year. He was no longer the same snide and arrogant boy that had returned to Hogwarts for seventh year - he was somebody else and he wasn't sure if that was a bad thing anymore.

Suddenly, he saw a movement in the shadows behind him in the mirror.

"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, his hand going to where his wand was supposed to be, only to find that it wasn't there.

There was no reply and Draco felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Blaise?" he chanced, looking around for something that he could defend himself with as well as looking for the intruder. He saw the barely visible outline of somebody next to his bed - they had clearly tried to conceal themselves with a charm but it was fading now.

"Show yourself! I can see where you are already!" Draco yelled.

The intruder obliged, stepped out from the shadows and faced him, twirling Draco's wand in his hand lazily.

Draco let out a gasp.

"Hello, son." greeted Lucius Malfoy icily.

---

**A/N: **Argh! I had to stop this chapter here because it was getting way too long - I'm not sure how the Yule Ball turned out to take so long to get past because I seriously planned for this chapter to be the second last…but it looks like there's going to be at least another two chapters before this story will end so please bear with me as I wind it all up.

Hope you all enjoyed that twist and again, thank you all so much for your reviews and support!

**A general reply to my reviewers:**

Omg! I'm so glad everyone agrees with me on how upsetting HBP was…I thought that I was the only one who really disliked the ending but I thought it was a definite improvement from OotP. Anyways, looking forward to the seventh book nevertheless and I also think that R.A.B is Regulus Black and that Snape is innocent, despite what JKR wants you to think!


	32. Chapter Thirty One

**Chapter Thirty One**

_Previously on Through the Ages:_

Suddenly, he saw a movement in the shadows behind him in the mirror.

"Who's there?" he asked in a low voice, his hand going to where his wand was supposed to be, only to find that it wasn't there.

There was no reply and Draco felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Blaise?" he chanced, looking around for something that he could defend himself with as well as looking for the intruder. He saw the barely visible outline of somebody next to his bed - they had clearly tried to conceal themselves with a charm but it was fading now.

"Show yourself! I can see where you are already!" Draco yelled.

The intruder obliged, stepped out from the shadows and faced him, twirling Draco's wand in his hand lazily.

Draco let out a gasp.

"Hello, son." greeted Lucius Malfoy icily.

---

"Father." Draco replied as calmly as he could. He was completely shocked - what the hell was his father doing at Hogwarts!

"That was quite a speech you made to your fellow housemates just then. Have you been rehearsing it for awhile?" Lucius remarked coolly.

"No." He answered shortly.

"Nonsense. You knew the consequences of going to the Yule Ball with that dirty Mudblood as a date and you were prepared to make that speech, long before you actually made it. Now, Draco - I would like you to explain to me exactly why you decided to throw away everything I've given you for Potter's girl." Lucius ordered.

"She's not Potter's girl." Draco bit out.

"Ah of course she isn't - she's yours isn't she?" Lucius countered with a sneer.

"How did you get in here anyway? Aren't there all sorts of charms preventing outsiders from entering the school?" Draco asked flatly, ignoring Lucius' question.

"Answer my question, son and I'll answer yours." Lucius stated pointedly.

"Which one?" asked Draco.

"Whichever one you wish to answer first." Lucius replied snidely.

"Well then, Father - yes, Hermione Granger is my girlfriend. We've been dating for awhile now and you're not going to stop me from seeing her because you don't have that power over me anymore." said Draco firmly.

There was a pause as Lucius eyed Draco with a cold fury. But when he spoke, there was no trace of anger - only an icy tone.

"I see." Lucius murmured, "So what exactly do you propose you're going to do when I disown you? You're not old enough to have access to the trust fund I set up for you when you turn eighteen and without that you're clearly penniless."

"You're going to disown me?" Draco asked incredulously.

"What did you expect, son? A Malfoy heir consorting with a lowly Mudblood clearly warrants some sort of drastic action - haven't I told you that many times already, Draco? I have instilled in you a hatred for them and yet you still disobey me and -"

"That's ridiculous. She's still a witch! It doesn't matter if she's muggleborn-" Draco was cut off as his father slapped him hard across his face.

"What on earth has gotten into you! Have you forgotten everything that I've taught you? How can you say these things as though you've believed in them your whole life? You are _my _son, Draco - not one of those Muggle loving Weasleys!" Lucius yelled.

"I haven't forgotten what you've taught me, Father. But I _have _chosen not to believe in them, that's all." Draco responded quietly.

"_That's all_." Lucius mimicked sneeringly, "Just answer this one question first then, Draco, before we go on. Why did you choose the Mudblood Granger out of all the witches in the school?"

"She's not just any witch, Father. She's more powerful and smarter than all the pureblood witches." Draco replied, earning himself another slap.

"You dare to say that a Mudblood is more powerful than a pureblood?" Lucius snarled.

"It's the truth, Father. The Dark Lord's only a half-blood himself and he's definitely more powerful than any pureblood." Draco pointed out.

"Shut your insolent mouth, boy!" Lucius exclaimed.

"No, I wont" Draco replied stubbornly, feeling bolder than ever in front of his father.

"How dare you disobey me." Lucius muttered lowly.

"Oh, by the way Father, since I've answered your question - you should probably answer mine." Draco continued on flippantly.

"Why don't you ask your good friend Blaise?" snarled Lucius in response.

"Blaise? So he _was _the one spying on us, wasn't he Father?" asked Draco.

"He was just completing his first mission as a newly initiated Death Eater." Lucius answered stonily.

"Why would spying on me and Hermione be his first mission?" Draco asked blankly.

"The Dark Lord was most displeased when he first heard reports of you being involved with a Mudblood, as you're his most promising potential Death Eater. Since it was Blaise who had informed him in the first place, he ordered him to keep a watch on you and try to sway you back to the Dark Side." Lucius explained.

"I'm sure it was more personal than that…" Draco muttered under his breath.

"So now Draco, I am here to give you an ultimatum - and one last chance to redeem yourself."

"Yeah I'm listening." Draco stated lazily. Lucius ignored his son's audacity and continued on,

"You are to choose whether or not you're going to join the Death Eaters now. If you choose to become one, you will not be forced to leave your Mudblood but instead you will use this to your advantage and find out crucial information about Potter from her. If you do not choose to join us, then I'm afraid I _will _have to disown you."

"Wait, let me get this straight, Father. I don't have to break up with Hermione if I do become a Death Eater, but I'll have to become a spy and use her?" Draco asked.

"That's correct, son." Lucius answered, in a much kinder voice.

"Okay, but if I don't join you, I'll be disowned from the family."

"That's also correct."

"So if I'm disowned, how is the proper Malfoy line going to continue?" asked Draco pointedly

"I am still young, Draco. Your mother and I still have time to produce another heir." Lucius replied smoothly.

Draco heard his father's answer and burst out laughing.

"Draco! This is a serious matter - why are you laughing?" Lucius demanded to know.

"Father, you cant honestly think that after turning down initiation last holidays that I'd want to be initiated now. And plus, why would I want to use my girlfriend to spy on Potter? That's just absurd." Draco drawled.

"That's enough Draco! You're nothing like the son I had - I don't know who you are, but I will have no qualms about hurting you now." Lucius threatened.

"That's okay, Father. I can take your effeminate slaps." said Draco boldly, feeling the adrenaline pulsing in his veins - he was finally standing up to his father and it felt _good._

Lucius let out a wild yell of fury at this and pulled out his own wand, pointing it straight at his son.

"I'm telling you now, Draco, that this is your last chance. I've tried to be civil with you about this but you insist on being impertinent and rude towards me. Come with me tonight to the Dark Lord, join our ranks and be forgiven or -"

"Or what, Father? You're going to hex me?" Draco taunted.

Lucius glared at his son and muttered,

"_Crucio" _

A jet of red light struck Draco where he stood and he fell onto his bed, writhing about in agony. He bit his lip, refusing to make any sound to deprive his father of the satisfaction of knowing how much pain he was in.

Suddenly, the spell was lifted and his father stood over him, his grey eyes glinting maliciously at him.

"Still trying to be a hero, are you Draco?" Lucius sneered.

"I'm not going to let you manipulate me again, Father." Draco spat in response.

"Suit yourself."

And the feeling of a thousand knives stabbing at him descended upon him again, and it did not abate for a long time as Lucius calmly watched his son scrunching up his face in an effort to stop himself from yelling out - even though his body had already betrayed him by involuntarily writhing around in torment.

When Draco could not take it anymore, he began to let out agonised screams of pain and it was then that a sadistic smile crossed Lucius' face.

"Scream all you want, son. No one's going to hear you."

After a few moments he lifted the spell and sat down next to his son on the bed. Draco's lips were bloody and there was sweat pouring down his pale face, he was breathing in ragged breaths and his body still felt like it was on fire.

"See, Draco. I can be merciful when I want to be - you just have to prove to me that you're not turning into a Muggle loving saint." Lucius said mockingly as his son lay tortured next to him.

"I'm not…going…to let…you win…" panted Draco, raising his eyes to his father's.

Lucius slapped him hard across his face again and this time Draco could taste blood in his mouth.

"This is not a matter of winning or losing, Draco. This is much more serious. It is a matter of life and death." Lucius said silkily.

"Like…you're…really going to…kill me…" Draco laughed feebly.

A feral smile graced his father's face as he placed his cold hands around Draco's throat.

"Watch me." He breathed harshly into his son's ear.

Draco's eyes widened as Lucius tightened his grip on his throat and he felt his airways closing up and he gulped for oxygen.

"I never thought it would come to this, but there is no other way." Lucius murmured, beginning to throttle his son.

Draco tried to push his father away, and when he realised he was too weak to do that, he pathetically tried to kick him but the Cruciatus curse had sapped away all his strength and there was nothing he could do to stop his father from strangling him to death.

The room began to spin around him as the last of his oxygen supply disappeared and he could see flashes of his life going through his mind…so that really does happen when you are about to die, he thought to himself dryly…and the stark realisation that he _was _going to die hit him and he was about to close his eyes and stop struggling when he felt the constricting hands of his father being wrenched from his throat and he saw vague shapes throwing Lucius onto the floor just before everything went black.

---

Meanwhile, in the Head Common Room a heated discussion was taking place.

Harry and Ron were sitting on a sofa both seething with anger while Hermione was sitting on an armchair directly across from them and she was glaring at them.

"Look I _know _we've always had this feud against him and all that, but I'm telling you now that he's not as bad as we thought he was!" she exclaimed.

"We're still not buying it, Hermione. He's either trying to use you or something else that's equally sinister." Harry said coldly.

"Why do you always jump to the wrong conclusion, Harry!" Hermione sighed.

"I think he's right, Mione." Ron added, "There's a reason why we still don't like him after so many years."

"Yes but that's because you never bothered to try! He's a good person on the inside, I swear."

Ron and Harry snickered at that.

"The day Malfoy becomes a good person is the day Ron and Ginny get together." Harry joked, earning himself a glare from both Hermione and Ron.

"That's disgusting, mate." Ron said in revulsion.

"Sorry, I just needed an analogy." Harry apologised.

"Okay, I'm just going to ignore that, Harry. But honestly, I've always had the same opinion of him as you did but I saw the _real _Draco when we got taken back in time and he's not at all what you think he is. He's a gentleman, he's _not _a Death Eater and -"

"Oh listen to yourself Hermione! You sound like you've definitely been Confunded and then fed a very potent Love Potion!" Ron exclaimed.

"I'm perfectly sane, Ron! I think he's a wonderful person and I think I'm in love with him!" Hermione burst out indignantly, and then clapping her hand over her mouth when she realised what she had just said.

"You WHAT!" roared Harry in response.

"Oh god. I don't think that I meant that to come out at all." Hermione muttered.

"You think you're in LOVE with the prat!" Ron asked dubiously.

"Well, I think I just said that because you were pissing me off so much, Ron…" Hermione tried to cover up.

"Oh come off it, Mione. Do you really love him?" scoffed Harry.

"I might." Hermione said in a small voice.

"That's absolutely ridiculous! How could you even _like _that smarmy git!" Ron exclaimed, unconvinced.

"Well he's not a smarmy git to me. And I'm sure that if you guys all made the effort to be civil to each other, you'd find that you have a lot of things in common." Hermione reasoned.

"Oh, sure. We could sit around and discuss how many muggleborns we've tortured in the past week - that'll be really fun." Harry said sarcastically.

"Harry! I've already told you that Draco's not a Death Eater and he's not planning to become one either. Well, you do have things in common…like you all play Quidditch, I'm sure that you could all discuss that or something."

"Now _that _would be fun. I could tell him exactly how many times I've beaten him to the Snitch." Harry remarked, smirking with Ron.

"Well…if you must…" Hermione rolled her eyes, "So how about I invite him to come over tomorrow night and you guys can sort out your differences?"

"Do we have to?" asked Ron with a pained expression.

"Well I'm definitely not going to break up with him, so you guys will be seeing him an awful lot." Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah but we don't have to talk to him do we? You two can just …you know, do your business and we'll just stay out of the way." Harry responded.

"I'd rather you all be on civil terms - otherwise you might end up fighting every time I bring him here." said Hermione.

There was silence as Harry and Ron weighed up the options - they could go on hating Malfoy in peace and just try to ignore the fact that he was going out with their best friend, or they could give up their pride and try to be friends with Malfoy. Somehow the first option seemed much more appealing, but the pleading look on Hermione's face was too much for both of them and they grudgingly agreed to trying to be friends with Malfoy.

"Oh really? Thank you guys so much for understanding! I knew that you'd both come around somehow!" Hermione gushed and she got up out of her armchair and wrapped her arms tightly around both of them.

"Er, no worries, Mione." Ron managed to squeeze out.

"Thank you. Seriously, you don't know how much this means to me." she said happily.

Harry and Ron both smiled at her warmly, though they still felt a bit upset that she was going out with their archenemy - but she was still their friend and they wanted her to be happy. The least they could do for her was keep an eye on things and make sure that Draco was genuine but they wouldn't do anymore than that because the rest was up to her to decide.

So the three best friends all bade each other good night and they all returned to their respective dorms feeling glad that their friendship was still intact.

Hermione flopped onto her bed, still clad in her beautiful dress robes and she marvelled at how everything had turned out - she really was very relieved that Harry and Ron were now willing to support her. She smiled dreamily at the thought of telling Draco when he picked her up tomorrow morning that Harry and Ron were willing to be friends with him and she began to drift off to sleep, feeling utterly content and unburdened for the first time in a long time, blissfully unaware that the object of her thoughts was presently lying unconscious in the Hospital Wing…

---

**A/N: **Whew, another long chappie! Haha, anyways, hope that was ok for a bit of a rushed chapter - I really needed to get everything out quickly because school's getting pretty busy and I hope that the quality didn't suffer too much.

Now, what do you guys think of this chapter! Lucius - that evil man! Blaise - that evil boy! Well, everything shall be revealed in full next chapter, because everything is still not what it seems to be and there is still one part of the stalker puzzle missing…so yes stay tuned for the next chapter!

Thank you again to all my reviewers and here are some replies:

**Firedoll22: **Yeah its true that she's a bit wimpy in this but think about it - she's confused about her feelings and what she should do, so even though she's usually a strong person, on the inside she's going crazy.

**Aristocratic Assassin**I love your name! Haha anyways, hopefully that wasn't too traditional 'I'm forbidding you to see her' for you!

**londonmalfoy**Lol well I guess you shouldn't feel too stupid now cos it turns out that it was Blaise after all. Hope you enjoyed that!

**walk.in.the.rain**: Nope! He's not the secret admirer…

**Geraldine-b**Thanks for your really nice review! Haha, I dunno exactly how time travel works but I'm supposing that the real Marie and Julien resumed their spots.

**Smiles**: Hey thanks for your constructive review - you're right, there is quite a bit of dialogue in my fanfics (I mean look at this chapter) but yeah I'm just used to writing stories like that…oh and "Another thing that I disagreed on was Draco's personaility. A lot of it was good, but I don't think Draco would spend too much time noticing Hermione. It seems if he was almost flirting with her since he kept on going up to her. Maybe slowing it down a bit might help. J" Which part are you referring to?

psychohart


	33. Chapter Thirty Two

**Chapter Thirty Two**

Hermione awoke the next morning feeling completely refreshed and relaxed - she no longer had the feeling of a great weight on her shoulders and she could not wait to tell Draco of her good news.

She got dressed quickly and went out to the Head Common room to wait for Harry to get ready. He came out soon afterwards and Hermione beamed at him warmly, and he smiled back at her heartily, trying hard to smooth down his hair, which was messy as usual.

"Did you have a good sleep?" asked Harry.

"I sure did." Hermione answered brightly, "It was the best night's sleep I've had in quite awhile in fact."

"Well, that's good to hear, Mione. So are you ready to face the aftermath of your decision to go public?" asked Harry wryly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and leant back against the couch as her weariness returned. She had been so preoccupied with trying to sway Ron and Harry to her side that she had practically forgotten about the rest of the school and their reactions.

"I'm ready." She declared after awhile, gathering her wits and getting up.

Harry winked at her, and took her arm as they exited their Common Room.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine." Harry assured her.

Hermione nodded, and then as she suddenly remembered her talk with Draco last night, she stopped walking.

"Harry, I've just remembered that Draco's supposed to be picking me up so we can go to Potions together this morning."

"Oh really? Its getting pretty late, Mione. He should be here by now." Harry remarked.

"Yeah, well maybe he slept in or something. You should go to class first, I'll wait for him for awhile." Hermione suggested.

Then an unexpected voice interrupted their conversation.

"I'm afraid, Ms. Granger, that you will be waiting for a long time."

Hermione whirled around to find Professor McGonagall standing behind her.

"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall - I don't understand what you mean." Hermione said as politely as she could.

"Perhaps it may be better if we discussed this in private." Professor McGonagall said pointedly, giving Harry a look.

Harry took the subtle hint and said goodbye to Hermione reluctantly, leaving her standing apprehensively with the professor.

"What's the matter, Professor?" asked Hermione as Harry rounded a corner and disappeared from their sight.

"Draco's in the Hospital Wing." She replied simply.

Hermione gasped.

"What? Is he alright? What happened? Can I see him?" she asked frantically.

"Calm yourself down, Ms. Granger. Draco is in a stable condition and of course you will be permitted to see him - however you must not skip classes, so you may visit him after Potions today." Professor McGonagall said firmly.

Hermione sighed.

"Could you please tell me what happened to him, Professor?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"I think it may be better if he tells you himself." She replied quietly.

"Well there's still fifteen minutes before class starts, Professor - I'm sure that I'll be able to get back from the Hospital Wing in time…" Hermione suggested feebly.

"No I'm afraid that you would not be able to speak to him if you were to visit him now as the Headmaster is currently speaking to him." McGonagall answered, dashing all her hopes.

Hermione was still visibly upset and so McGonagall took pity on her.

"Oh very well, Ms. Granger. If you must know, Lucius Malfoy somehow found a way into the school last night and attempted to choke Draco to death after performing the Cruciatus curse on him." Professor McGonagall explained succinctly.

To the Professor's great distress, upon hearing that disturbing news, Hermione promptly fainted.

---

Meanwhile, Draco lay weakly in his bed in the Hospital Wing.

He was staring at the ceiling as dark thoughts raced through his head. He had just woken up from unconsciousness and the last thing he remembered seeing was his father's manic expression as he strangled his own son - he closed his eyes as he relived those raw memories of the previous night and he was still shaken at the fact that his father had actually attempted to murder him.

He laughed bitterly as he wondered who else's father would be horrible enough to want to kill their own flesh and blood, realising that nobody else's father hated their son as much as Lucius had hated him for defying him.

His hands gingerly touched his throat and again he felt his father's strong hands around it, choking him mercilessly. He winced as he felt a sharp jolt of pain pass through him as he tried to roll over - his body was still aching all over from the Cruciatus curse that his father had cast on him…

Shit.

How the hell did he survive all that?

And then he remembered taunting his father, feeling the delicious feeling of adrenaline coursing through his veins, giving him the courage to stand up to the monster of a father that he had hated once he had found out what he was _really _like and lastly, he remembered that feeling of helplessness that had come over him as he realised that he was unable to save himself from what seemed to be an inevitable death at his father's hands…

But then who had saved him?

Suddenly he was jerked from his thoughts by a bustling Madam Pomfrey.

"My dear boy, you're awake!" she exclaimed happily.

"Yeah, when can I get out of here?" was Draco's first question.

Madam Pomfrey looked slightly taken aback.

"Oh no, Draco, you mustn't think about that just yet. Your body will require quite a bit of time to heal considering what its been put through -" She broke off muttering about Unforgivable curses, "But don't worry about that now, just let your body rest and recover."

"But Madam Pomfrey I don't want to stay here!" Draco protested.

"I'm afraid there's no way I can discharge you before the weekend, Draco." Madam Pomfrey said sternly.

"But I can't just leave Hermione to take care of herself - especially after all that's happened! What if my father comes back for more and decides to strangle her too!" Draco exclaimed wildly.

"Calm yourself down, Draco! Hermione Granger is a perfectly competent girl who will be able to take care of yourself, don't you worry. You should not be agitating yourself - your body needs rest! Now I would give you a Dreamless Sleeping Potion, but the Headmaster wishes to see you before classes start this morning - so in a few minutes he should be coming up to speak to you." Madam Pomfrey sniffed.

Draco nodded and the nurse exited his makeshift room which was closed off with the customary white curtains. He wondered if Hermione knew of what had happened - he hoped for her sake that she hadn't yet…he would rather tell her himself rather than let her hear it second-hand because she would definitely get very worried about him, and he didn't want that.

He wondered if the rest of the school knew and if right now they were thinking that he deserved it because he had decided to date a Mudblood. He couldn't shake these thoughts out of his mind and contrary to Madam Pomfrey's instructions, he was getting very agitated. He had wanted to be with Hermione today to face the school and for their first day together in public but now - thanks to his deranged father, he was stuck in the Hospital Wing for god knows how long and unable to do anything.

Draco turned his head towards the opening in the curtain upon hearing a soft rustling, expecting Dumbledore to appear. However, as a dirty blonde head poked through the opening, Draco realised that it wasn't the Headmaster, it was -

"Pansy?" Draco half-asked, half-greeted.

The blonde Slytherin nodded in response, walking slowly towards his bed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked uncomprehendingly.

Pansy still didn't reply, instead laying her hand on his cheek. Draco eyed her suspiciously - what the hell was she doing?

"Pansy?" he tried again, but she didn't respond.

It was only when a burning hot teardrop fell onto his face that he realised that she was crying.

"I'm so sorry, Draco." she choked out softly.

"What?"

"I-I never meant to get you killed." she whispered.

"What are you talking about, Pansy?" asked Draco in shock.

"Its all my fault that you're lying here at the moment, Draco. Oh god, I'm so sorry! I only wanted to have the old youback - I never intended for everything to go so far." Pansy sobbed.

"So you're the one behind all this!" Draco exclaimed as he suddenly realised what she was trying to say.

"No! No - it wasn't my idea, Draco. You have to believe me! It was Blaise's - I think he liked Granger too and when he saw you two together one night, he got very angry and came to me, asking me if I wanted to help him get you back. Of course I agreed - I've missed you so much, Draco…ever since you've come back from the past, you've been different. You barely notice me anymore and I resented that. So when Blaise told me about his plan to stalk you two and then send Granger threats, I decided to help him out." Pansy explained.

"Why couldn't you have just told me that you felt that way instead of getting me almost killed!" Draco burst out furiously.

"Draco don't say that! I-I just couldn't see any other way at the time…and the fact that Blaise had seen you and Granger together just got me so worked up that I wasn't thinking straight. I would never hurt you intentionally, Draco." Pansy whimpered.

"So Blaise stalked us and you sent the threats to Hermione." Draco stated hollowly.

"Yes."

"And how did Blaise let my father into the school last night?" asked Draco.

"I'm not too sure. I think that after we saw you and Granger near the Lake, he went to Snape's office and disabled a ward that stops outsiders from Flooing in, while all the teachers were supervising the Yule Ball and so Lucius slipped in, undetected." Pansy answered.

Draco was silent for a few moments and Pansy was too scared to break the silence because he seemed to radiating an icy fury even in his weak state, not unlike how Lucius had reacted to the news that his son was dating a Mudblood, she thought to herself.

"Draco?" she ventured after awhile.

"Just get out, Pansy." He responded coldly and with one last pleading glance at her former friend, she left, leaving him alone to absorb what he had just learnt from her.

But before everything could sink in, Dumbledore himself strode into the ward.

"Ah, good to see that you're up, Draco. How are you feeling?" asked Dumbledore genially.

"Terrible." replied Draco sullenly.

"I assume that Ms. Parkinson has already come to see you?" Dumbledore said softly.

"Yeah. I cant believe she was in on it! I mean I can understand Blaise's motives for it but -" Draco exclaimed heatedly.

"Draco, you mustn't blame Pansy for what she did because everything that she caused to happen was completely unintentional on her part. However, Blaise was not quite as innocent as Pansy in this matter and -"

"Yes I knew that already, Professor. I've always suspected that it was him anyway but I just cant believe that Pansy helped him." Draco said disbelievingly.

"Draco, Pansy's part in this is not what's important. I came here today to speak to you about your father." Dumbledore said evenly.

"He's an arrogant lunatic and he tried to kill me, what else is there to talk about?" asked Draco irritably.

"Aren't you curious as to how you ended up in the Hospital Wing, Draco? Haven't you wondered who it was that saved you?" asked Dumbledore serenely.

"Yes."

"Well last night I was in my office when I was alerted to the fact that one of the most important protection wards had been breached somehow and I was shocked to find that it had been breached in your private dormitory. So I quickly informed Professor Snape of the situation and we arrived just in time to prevent your father from accomplishing his deed." Dumbledore explained.

Draco was speechless.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry for being so rude to you, Professor. Thank you for saving my life." Draco stammered embarrassedly.

"Don't worry, Draco. I understand that you're going through a tough time at the moment and you're still trying to get your head around all that's happened. But yes, I must admit that I was very shocked that your father managed to breach the ward against Unforgivable curses being performed at Hogwarts - if I'm not mistaken, he performed the Cruciatus curse on you?" asked Dumbledore seriously.

"Yes he did." Draco replied quietly.

"No son should have to suffer at his father's hands as you did, Draco." Dumbledore commented.

Draco's lips curled into a crooked smile at that.

"_My_ father is very different to other fathers, Professor. I've known that for quite awhile - but its just that I never expected him to go so far…"

"Well would it please you to hear that he has been arrested and is now awaiting a trial before the Wizengamot?" asked Dumbledore.

"Only if it means that he'll get sent to Azkaban." muttered Draco darkly.

Dumbledore smiled.

"Draco, I'm very glad that you stood up against your father. It would've taken a lot of courage to do that against such a powerful man." He said, with his eyes twinkling.

"Thank you, sir." Draco smiled back at the Headmaster.

"I've taken up enough of your valuable recovering time, Draco and I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is not happy at all about that. So I'll leave you to rest now. Take care."

Draco nodded, and said goodbye to him. As Dumbledore pulled aside the curtain that obscured his view of the rest of the Hospital Wing, he saw that there was one other person lying unconscious in the ward.

It was a girl, with curly brown hair and a fairly pretty face -

"Hermione." He breathed in realisation.

As he heard the sound of the Hospital Wing door closing behind Dumbledore, he summoned up all the strength that he could muster and got out of bed delicately, testing if his sore body could hold up. Wincing with pain, he doggedly sneaked across the ward to where Hermione lay, unconscious.

Her chocolate coloured hair was scattered on the pillow and her eyes were of course, shut. Thankfully, he could not see any signs of physical harm on her body and he sincerely hoped that her hospitalisation had nothing to do with Lucius' attack on him yesterday. He watched her chest move up and down in time with her breathing, he concluded that she had probably only fainted. He looked back to see that Madam Pomfrey was making angry gestures at him through the office window to go back to his own bed, and so he kissed Hermione gently on the forehead and gave her one last worried glance before obeying the nurse's instructions.

---

**A/N: **Okay! Hope that you guys enjoyed that very illuminating chapter and that all your questions have been answered by it. The next chapter will be the absolute **FINAL **chapter and it will be the **EPILOGUE.**

Thank you to all my reviewers for your ongoing support even to those who criticised my writing, because it was all constructive in the end. And here's a virtual cookie to _Hg-bookworm_ who figured out that Pansy was the final piece of the puzzle!

Stay tuned for the FINAL CHAPTER of _Through the Ages,_

psychohart


	34. Chapter Thirty Three

**Chapter Thirty Three**

A few days had passed since Hermione had last seen Draco. Every time she had tried to sneak into the Hospital Wing, she was promptly shooed back out by a stern Madam Pomfrey who insisted that Draco needed his rest. Hermione understood that, considering how much damage his father had inflicted on him…but it wasn't like she was going to keep him from resting - she just wanted to watch over him.

Now Hermione was standing outside the Hospital Wing once again, only this time, it was to meet Draco because today was the day that he was being discharged. The door opened and Hermione turned around in anticipation -

"Hey." said Draco with a wry smile.

"Hey." Hermione replied softly.

She gave him an once-over to check if he was still physically injured in any sort of way, and was pleased to find that he _looked_ as though absolutely nothing had happened to him. He was standing as arrogantly as he had before and his slate grey eyes twinkled at her. Madam Pomfrey had done an outstanding job in healing him physically, but she would never be able to heal the emotional scars that Hermione knew that he had sustained.

"Missed me?" He asked drolly.

"What do you think?" She answered with a smile.

Draco strolled over languidly and embraced her tightly.

"Well I certainly hope you have, because I've missed _you_." He murmured in her ear.

Hermione smiled back at him and was about to say something when a group of fifth year Ravenclaws walked past and threw them dirty looks.

Draco sighed.

"I guess the school still hasn't come to terms with us being together." Hermione remarked.

"Well, no one ever said that it would be easy." Draco replied.

"I know, but I have some good news for you - Harry and Ron are surprisingly willing to accept us being together." she grinned.

Draco had a sceptical look on his face and he raised his eyebrows.

"Right, and what did you threaten them with?" He quipped.

"Nothing really, I just reasoned with them." Hermione replied testily, a little miffed that he would even _think _that she would threaten her best friends…

"Okay, okay I believe you. Stop frowning! I haven't seen you for three days and its been less than five minutes and you're already angry at me." stated Draco petulantly.

Hermione looked at him, and felt guilty immediately for making him irritated so soon after he had gotten out of the Hospital Wing, especially after what he had just been through.

"Draco, I'm not angry at you! Look, I'm sorry for being so petty." she apologised quietly.

"Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean it seriously either - I've just been pretty tense lately and…" he trailed off.

An awkward silence ensued.

"Well, I think we should probably find some place quiet to talk before another group of people come pass and glare at us again" Hermione suggested, breaking the ice.

Her words seemed to jerk Draco back out from his reverie, and it was then that she realised how right she was about his emotional scars from the attack. She knew it would be awhile before he could stop being haunted by the memories and it would be hard for him to assimilate back into normal life - now that he was with her and would be ostracised by his House.

She also knew that it would take a while for him to be back to his usual confident self, considering how much emotional and mental damage had been inflicted on him, but she was willing to persevere and help him through it.

She gave him a worried look when he didn't reply to her suggestion, which he saw and he smiled weakly back at her.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, it'll just take time for me to heal, that's all." Draco assured her.

"You know I'm here for you, if you want to talk about it." Hermione replied anxiously.

He nodded and smiled at her a bit more broadly, but she could sense that it would be awhile before he would be comfortable with discussing it with anyone else.

"Yeah, of course. Now, is your dormitory free? I think that would be the best place for us to go." he said with a small grin.

Hermione grinned back at him comfortingly, and placed her hand in his, feeling the familiar feeling of his calloused hand, roughened by Quidditch. Then they set out for the Head Common Room to make up for lost time.

---

They were lying on the sofa in the Head Common Room, and Hermione was comfortably resting her head on Draco's chest, listening to the steady beating of his heart. He hadn't made another mention about the attack all afternoon and instead he had proclaimed to her that he needed her to help him relax and er…release some of the tension that he had accumulated over his stay in the Hospital Wing.

Hermione had reluctantly obliged, thinking that he was just trying to avoid talking to her about his problems again - but she understood that he needed to take his mind off what had happened and she would try to mention it to him when he was more relaxed.

She gazed up at him, taking in his angled features, his stormy silver eyes that were currently staring out the window and decided that now was the time to broach the sensitive subject.

"Draco…" she said gently.

His eyes suddenly snapped from his fixed stare at some point out of the window and he focused his attention on her again.

"Yes?" he replied, pulling her closer to him.

Hermione was momentarily made conscious of the feeling of his lean body pressed against hers as he shifted his position and she had to take a deep, steadying breath before speaking again. She had _definitely _missed him over the past few days.

"What exactly happened that night?" she asked, aware of the sudden change in the beating of his heart.

"Hermione, why do you have to ruin the mood like that?" he replied with a bite in his voice.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly. It was awhile before she spoke again.

"I want to know, so that I can help you." Hermione stated firmly.

"Look, I know that you're worried about me, and if I was in your position, I would want to know what happened too - but I don't want to burden you with this. This is my problem, and I'll deal with it in my own time." Draco responded resolutely.

"But -"

"No buts. I've made my decision and you're not going to change it. Its for the best - I promise. By the way, don't think that what happened was your fault, because it was a long time coming - there had been a very strong tension between my father and I since I had declined to join the Death Eaters last summer. If my defiance of him by dating you hadn't triggered it, something else would've - so please don't blame yourself." Draco continued on, his eyes piercing hers with their resolve.

Hermione was speechless for a moment, because it hadn't occurred to her exactly how much time Draco had had to reflect on what had happened to him. He had been kept isolated from the rest of the school for three days and Hermione knew from experience that the days dragged on forever in the Hospital Wing when you had no visitors.

"I-I understand. I won't ask about it again until you're ready to tell me then." she replied tentatively.

He smiled gratefully at her and tilted her chin to capture her lips in another one of his fervent kisses.

When they drew apart, Hermione noticed that there was still a faint marring on his throat from the attack and before she could stop herself, she had reached out to touch it gingerly.

Draco jumped at her touch, his eyes flashing at her.

"I thought we had just agreed that we're not to talk about it. What are you doing?" he asked breathlessly, his hand gripping her offending one tightly.

"I'm sorry again - I couldn't help it - I was curious…" Hermione said slightly incoherently.

Draco sighed.

"Stop apologising, Hermione. You're making me feel so guilty about not telling you about it - I know that you deserve to know what happened but I really don't want to burden you with the knowledge. Its not like I just got into a fight with my father or something - its much darker than that and I'm not sure I want you to hear about how terrible it was for me."

"Draco, don't underestimate me. I'm not a little girl anymore, I can deal with it - I've grown up listening to Harry's recounts of his confrontations with the Dark Lord." Hermione stated quietly.

He was silent for a moment, still trying to decide whether or not it was a good idea to tell her about it. In the end, his guilt won over his resolve and he recounted the attack in detail to her, though to Hermione, he seemed detached - as though he was just narrating a story about someone else.

By the end of it, both were trembling, Draco with a cold fury as he remembered vividly what his father had done to him and Hermione was clutching his hand so forcefully that Draco felt as though she was trying to cut off his circulation.

"Thank you for finally telling me." Hermione whispered.

"Do you regret asking me?" He asked wryly.

"Not at all." She answered softly.

"Good. Because it took a lot out of me to tell you." Draco stated bluntly, though his eyes showed that he wasn't trying to be mean about it.

Hermione relaxed against him, feeling content and blessed to have Draco still here with her, even though she had been so close to losing him. Suddenly, their cosy snuggle was ruined by Harry and Ron, who were back from Quidditch practice. Her two best friends had made a loud entrance, unaware of the couple lying tangled with one another on the sofa.

"Yeah did you see Ginny's face when you saved that amazing goal she shot? She looked ready to hit you with a Bat-Bogey Hex!" Harry chortled, and Ron joined in until they both realised what they had walked in on.

"Hermione! Er, and…Malfoy." Ron greeted awkwardly while Harry had stopped dead in his tracks and was having a coughing fit.

"Hey guys, you're back from Quidditch early." Hermione replied nonchalantly, extricating herself from Draco's limbs.

"Yeah, and Malfoy's back from Hospital early too." Ron countered.

"Its not funny." Hermione said in a tight voice.

Harry and Ron both wiped the smirks off their faces and even Draco sat up a bit straighter, interested in how this confrontation was going to turn out.

"He deserves much more respect than you two are giving him at the moment - the least you could do is remember your promise and act civil to him!" She continued on shrilly.

All three boys were taken aback at how adamant she was that they act civil towards one another that they were shocked into speechlessness - that is, except for Draco of course.

"Hermione's right, what happened to me was not funny at all - but then again, I'm sure that you've been through worse, Potter." Draco conceded.

Harry and Ron still had flabbergasted expressions on their faces - they were probably still reeling from the shock of seeing their best friend so intimate with their enemy and so defensive of him.

"No, Malfoy - I've heard what happened to you, and I've got to admit that what you did takes guts. I'm…glad that you're alright." Harry replied courteously when he found his voice.

"Yeah, I agree with what Harry said - even though you're still a slimy git." Ron added, earning himself a glare from Hermione.

"Ron!"

"Sorry, Mione. But I don't think I'll ever be able to stop myself from insulting him." Ron apologised with a grin.

"No worries, Weasel. I don't think I'll be able to stop myself either." Draco responded good-naturedly.

Then they all looked at Hermione expectantly, as though they were waiting for her approval on their first civil-ish exchange.

"Well, I suppose it's a start." She said at last.

All three of them grinned at her, and then Harry and Ron decided to leave, sensing that the couple wanted their privacy back.

"We'll talk to you later, Hermione…and see you around, Malfoy." Harry said.

"Yeah, later Mione. Oh yeah and Malfoy, I'm warning you now, if you ever hurt her, me and Harry wont hesitate to make you pay." said Ron pointedly.

Draco raised his eyebrows at the redhead.

"Don't worry, Weasley, I'll never give _you _a legitimate reason to hurt me." Draco drawled.

Harry and Ron ignored his subtle barb and instead they decided to accept his reply.

"We're holding you to that, Malfoy." Harry responded, giving him a look with his own piercing emerald green eyes. And with that, the duo disappeared into Harry's room.

When they had left, Hermione turned to Draco and said,

"Thank you for being relatively civil to my friends. I think that it's the start of something beautiful between you three." Draco snorted at her choice of words.

"Yeah, I can totally see us being all buddy-buddy all the time now."

Hermione rolled her eyes and then looked out the window - to find that it was already dark.

"So, as a reward, what do you say to spending the night here with me?" she murmured into his ear.

His eyes widened and seemed to search hers, trying to figure out if she was serious or not.

"Really?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. You deserve to relax." Hermione replied with a coy smile, which Draco returned.

And with that, they too disappeared, into the sanctuary of Hermione's room.

---

**A/N: **Argh! I hate this story - it seems to manipulate me into extending it every time I write a chapter! Okay I know that I said that this was supposed to be the final chapter but it isn't! I repeat - **THIS ISN'T THE FINAL CHAPTER! **The final chapter is the next one which will be titled **Epilogue **and will bring my chapter count up to a nice round number of 35! Yay! Yeah, so basically **DON'T DITCH MY STORY JUST YET AND STAY TUNED FOR THE EPILOGUE!**

So yes, thank you all for reading and I'm so sorry I keep dragging this ending out! Its not my fault! Blame it on the evil story itself. Oh and just a note about the **Epilogue, **its not going to be anywhere near as long as the rest of the other chapters, it'll be around 1000-1500 words.

Also a big THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers - you guys have kept me going all throughout this year and I truly treasure every single one that I get - constructive or complimentary.

Here are some replies:

**etherealfire **- Thanks for referring me to that story, it was a great read! I agree that Draco's much more complicated than most fanfics make him out to be and thank you so much for complimenting me about how I portrayed Draco in this story.

**genuinexchild** - Lol, when I first wrote this chapter I was going to reply to your review by apologising that it wouldn't be a chapter + an epilogue before the story ends…but its funny how life turns out because that's exactly how everything panned out! So yeah, thanks for reviewing and stay tuned for the epilogue.

**Chocolatlvr16** - hmmm a sequel? I don't know, it seems to me that this story has already been extended so much that its been wrung dry of ideas considering I planned for this to be a 20 chapter story, so a sequel is most likely out of the question. Thanks for your review though!

**PurpleXPrincess** - I hope that my reply to the review above answers your question about a sequel and of course, thank you for your review!

**lovedrher** - Again, refer to my reply to chocolatlvr16's review about the sequel. Also, about Harry and Ron accepting them…hmmm I tried to make it as realistic as possible but at the same time I didn't want Hermione to argue with them too much about it because I think that because Harry and Ron have been best friends with her for so long, they wouldn't throw away their friendship because she had chosen to be with Draco. Anyways, thanks for your review!

**Sexiprincess1228** - Is Pansy's hair black! How come I've always thought that she was blonde! Doesn't matter, I'm allowed a bit of creative license if she does have black hair. Thanks for your review!

**padfootedmoony** - Hey! Thanks for your ongoing support, unfortunately, as mentioned above…there wont be a sequel! I'm so sorry…but I might have a new story up later. School's getting kind of busy though, so we'll see.

Alright, I'm dead tired now from typing all day. Hope that you all enjoyed the penultimate chapter!

psychohart


	35. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was two days after Draco had been discharged from the Hospital Wing and it was Monday already again. Hermione had spent the whole weekend with Draco, holed up in her room away from the rest of the school with Harry ordering Dobby to bring them up food during meal times to save them a trip down to the Great Hall to face reality.

It had been a relaxing and refreshing break from all the bad vibes that Hermione had felt from the rest of the school while Draco had been in the Hospital Wing and they definitely needed the time to recuperate, catch up and prepare themselves for when they really went down to face the school.

"Do you think its cowardly for us to hide from them like this?" Draco had mused on Sunday afternoon.

Hermione had laughed and disagreed.

"No, we're just taking a much needed break from everything. No one can blame us for that. And anyway, I think the rest of the school needs some time to accept the fact that we're together for good now."

Now Hermione lay in bed, in denial that she had to go to classes this morning. Even though it was almost time for the Christmas break, all the teachers were still pushing them hard through the NEWT courses and Hermione had felt so burnt out from studying and dealing with everything that came with being with Draco that she was definitely looking forward to the Christmas break.

Suddenly the boy in question appeared outside her window, hovering on his broom, his silvery blond hair blowing in the wind. He tapped the glass impatiently, gesturing for her to let him in.

Hermione rolled her eyes wearily, but strode over to open the window for him anyway. Draco came in and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before thrusting a copy of the Daily Prophet at her excitedly.

"What's this for?" she asked curiously, "And why are you here so early?"

"Read it and find out." he replied with a grin, settling himself on her bed. Hermione looked at him in wonder, trying to figure out what had caused him to look more carefree than he had in the last two months combined.

Hermione sat down next to him and leant against him as she unfurled the newspaper and scanned the front page for the relevant headlines. She didn't have to look far - the headline that she was looking for was in big bold writing and screamed at her to read it:

_**LUCIUS MALFOY IS FINALLY CONVICTED FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER**_

"Draco!" she gasped, pointing at the headline and the accompanying mugshot of Lucius Malfoy himself, which was glaring at her.

"I know, its great isn't it? The most unflattering photo my father's ever had taken of himself is now splashed out on the biggest Wizarding newspaper for everyone to see." Draco remarked gleefully.

"Oh shush. How did you get the paper so early? Doesn't everyone usually get it at breakfast?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, but because my father's on the front page, my darling mother was able to weasel a couple of copies from the publishers before it gets delivered to anyone else and she sent it over early this morning." Draco replied with a small smile.

"Now, stop stalling and read the god damn article." He prompted her.

She nodded and did so.

_Lucius Malfoy, suspected Death Eater and head of the prestigious Malfoy family has been convicted of the attempted murder of his own son, Draco Malfoy, a student at Hogwarts. Though many in the Wizarding community have known that he was capable of many unspeakable crimes, he had never been found guilty on any of the crimes that he had been charged with until now. Many have also expressed disbelief at this latest heinous crime where he broke through the Hogwarts security wards and attempted to strangle his son after performing an Unforgivable curse on him - it is believed that he curse that he cast was the Cruciatus, a pain-inducing curse that tortures the recipient._

Hermione barely suppressed a snort at that line, trust the Daily Prophet to describe the Cruciatus curse so inadequately. Then she continued on reading,

_One of the Daily Prophet's sources within Hogwarts says that Lucius Malfoy had been assisted by two other students, but it is suspected that he had them under the Imperius curse, another Unforgivable. _

_At yesterday's trial before the Wizengamot, Lucius Malfoy appeared surly and arrogant, refusing to accept the sentence that they had given him, he is said to have shouted "You may send me away to Azkaban now, but I'll be out again before you know it! The Dark Lord will come and save me!" as he was being taken away to the prison, which has prompted the Ministry to reveal previously classified information that Lucius Malfoy was indeed the Dark Lord's right-hand man and a dangerous Muggle hater. _

_The sentence that was given to Lucius Malfoy was a lifetime imprisonment in Azkaban for performing an Unforgivable curse and attempted murder, though the prosecution has launched an appeal to have the sentence upgraded to the Dementor's Kiss. _

_This sentence means that the control of the extensive Malfoy estate now passes onto his wife, Narcissa to manage until the victim of this wicked crime, their seventeen year old son, Draco, becomes a legal adult. The Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour was also present at the trial and made a rare comment- "The Wizengamot has put another dangerous criminal behind bars and I feel that our society is now much safer because of it." _

Hermione finished reading the article and raised her eyes to meet Draco's, which were glinting in the reflected sunlight.

"I can't even begin to explain how happy I was to read that this morning." Draco proclaimed.

"I'm really happy for you, Draco. You're finally free." Hermione replied gently. He leant over and kissed her impulsively, showing her exactly how relieved he was that his father was behind bars.

"He deserved everything that he got." Draco muttered darkly when they drew apart and Hermione nodded.

"Definitely." She agreed, but then she thought of something else, "Draco, how is your mother coping with all this? Is she as happy as you are, or is she very upset?"

"It may come as a shock to you, Hermione, but my father and my mother had a very turbulent relationship. Sometimes they completely agreed with each other, sometimes their opinions clashed and…it was then that my father would abuse her." Draco answered quietly.

Hermione was taken aback - she had always assumed that Lucius Malfoy had loved his beautiful trophy wife, no matter how cold and heartless he was on the outside.

"I guess you can understand why I hated him so much after I realised what he was really like." Draco remarked bitterly.

Hermione started and then put her hand on his pale one reassuringly.

"Don't worry. Your father cant hurt you or your mother now." she said consolingly.

"I know. So, in answer to your question before, I suppose my mother's relieved about the Wizengamot's decision to put him where he belongs - but I can tell you that she's having a hell of a time dealing with all the media attention that she's getting and trying to sort out the Malfoy estate." said Draco with a sigh.

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Hermione asked gently.

Draco shook his head.

"My mother's a resilient and independent woman, though she was unable to do much under my father but you'll see her show her true colours now."

"Okay, um, so…I'm just wondering, Draco…does your mother share your father's deep hatred for witches like me?" Hermione asked awkwardly.

There was a pause as Draco seemed to be trying to remember something.

"Oh! That reminds me, I was going to ask you something else when I came here this morning. The article totally erased it from my memory." Draco gave her one of his rare dazzling grins again.

"Is this relevant to my question though?" Hermione asked.

"It relates to it. So, Hermione, I was wondering what you're doing during the Christmas break?" asked Draco lightly.

"Well, its tradition for me, Harry and Ron to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas break because Harry doesn't go back to his relatives' place except for the summer holidays. We keep him company." Hermione informed him.

"What if I make you an offer that you cant refuse?" Draco asked charmingly.

"What kind of offer?" Hermione responded curiously - he was being so infuriatingly secretive about all this!

"Well, you see, my mother wants me to get away from Hogwarts during the break because she feels that it will help me take my mind off things - but she wont be able to look after me at the Manor because she's still trying to sort out everything, like I said before and she wont have much time to see me. But she suggested that I take a break at one of our holiday homes - we do have quite a selection to choose from, but I've already decided on one, and I want you to join me on this break." Draco explained, finishing off with a smile.

"Erm, whoa…that _is _an offer that I cant refuse…but what about Harry? And does your mother care that you're spending all your time with a Muggle-born?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"I've explained the situation to her, and though she doesn't exactly approve, she's still allowing me to see you. In fact, she said that if she has time, she'll come over and have dinner with us. She wants to meet you." Draco replied.

"Really?" Hermione responded incredulously.

Draco nodded.

"So, what do you say, Hermione? Potter will be fine here with his sidekick, they wont miss you."

"Hey!" she spluttered indignantly.

"Well, of course they will, but you'll be missing out on a lot if you decide to stay with them." he countered smoothly.

They looked at each other - Draco's eyes imploring her to accept his invitation and Hermione's eyes troubled as her head and her heart battled inside of her. Finally she sighed and nodded.

"I'll come with you - but on one condition." Hermione said softly, "I want to be back here before the last weekend of the break so I can spend it with Harry and Ron."

"Sure." Draco replied with a grin, "Now, aren't you curious as to where we're going?"

"Of course I am. Why don't you enlighten me?" Hermione cocked her head at him and smiled.

"Here's a clue - it rhymes with the word 'gateau'." Draco said playfully.

Hermione's eyes widened.

"You don't mean…"

"Yes I do. We're going to the Malfoy Chateau."

Hermione let out an uncharacteristic squeal of delight and spontaneously threw her arms around Draco. He grinned at her reaction and held her close to him, treasuring this moment, when everything in the world seemed to be finally going his way.

---

_The End_

**Author's Final Rant: **The End! That's it! A year's hard work…over…cries I think I'm really gonna miss this story. It was truly lots of fun to write and I'm really surprised at how it all turned out, I mean I honestly planned for it only to be a short 20 chapter story, but somehow it morphed into this monstrous angst-romance fest. Doesn't matter. I still enjoyed writing it all.

Now, I want to thank each and every single one of my readers, silent or not for supporting me throughout the year and I want to say a special thank you to my lovely reviewers of course. I would list all of you here…but I am way too lazy, so here's a cookie for all 590 of you so far!

And, last but not least an extra special thank you to my regular reviewers (2 reviews and up):

**HgBookworm, seaweedqueen, Lady Delphinea, Aristocratic Assassin, My-Chemical-Romance-Fan, xOxOkIsSmYaSsXoXo, padfootedmoony, Sayaku-chan, genuinexchild, londonmalfoy, sexiprincess1228, PurpleXPrincess, lovedrhr, degrassichick, xxKyani, Monday Mornings, MysteryALASKA, POTTEROX, Flavagurl, Geraldine-b, Babiblue754, coldheartlessdracolover, mysteriouscharm, losangeleschick, greenleafchic127, beutifulblonde, vote-larry-4prez, phoenixtamer150, 13a13ygurl, AimeeK, natyslacks, lilpuppy3, Weaselbee, foxeran, etherealfire, Emma, ilovetom88, Nathifa Femi, Steph, xXWitchXx, perfectfakereality, Hp-paddy, ****Silverwolf130492****, DemonSorceress, curlygntx, elektrikstorm, ShimmeringEvil, FeLiCiTy RoXx, The Lady of the Four Leafed Clover, guyswhattheheck, Chalindra, BlueSword16, raisa, TheConductorsLEASTFavorite, Hali, merurikku, Gone-Goonie.**

Ok, if I missed on you in my list, don't feel neglected - it was purely unintentional and I still love you for reviewing!

Thank you all so much for your support and I really hope that you've enjoyed the story!

psychohart


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